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New Delhi: Crisis-hit IndiGo on Tuesday announced that its flight operations have “fully stabilised”, even as the airline continues to face questions over last-minute cancellations, compensation, and passenger inconvenience following a week-long meltdown.

In a fresh video message, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said the airline is “back on its feet” and all flights currently visible on the website are operating on an “adjusted, stable network”.

Lakhs Refunded, Baggage Returned — But No Word on Compensation

Elbers said lakhs of affected passengers have already received full refunds and the process is ongoing daily.
“Most of the bags stuck at airports have already been delivered… our teams are working very hard on delivering the remaining ones,” he added.

However, he avoided addressing a crucial question — whether the airline will compensate passengers whose flights were cancelled at the last minute. Under the Civil Aviation Ministry’s passenger charter, airlines must compensate passengers if cancellations are not communicated at least two weeks in advance. The compensation must be paid automatically, without passengers having to request it.

IndiGo has not clarified its stand on this mandatory compensation requirement.

Operations Ramp Up After Historic Disruption

Elbers said the airline had initially estimated normalisation by December 10–15, but claimed stability has been restored earlier than expected.

• December 5: Only 700 flights operated

• December 6: 1,500 flights

• December 7: 1,650 flights

• December 8–9: More than 1,800 flights

He added that the airline is now flying to all 138 destinations on its network and on-time performance has “returned to normal”.

‘We Let You Down’: CEO Issues Apology

Acknowledging the severe impact on passengers, Elbers said:
“Thousands of you could not travel, and we are profusely apologetic… We let you down when a major operational disruption happened.” He said the first priority was to ensure all stranded passengers were moved safely and then begin refunds “at scale”. IndiGo has not disclosed the total amount refunded so far, even though the government earlier said the figure had crossed ₹610 crore.