Signalling the chaos at airports across the country due to IndiGo's mass flight cancellations is unlikely to be resolved soon, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said close to 1,000 flight services is likely to be cancelled on Monday as part of its realignment plan. The CEO said the airline aims to return to normalcy in operations between December 10 and December 15.
In a video message, Elbers apologised for the disruption of services on Friday, as over 1,000 flights were cancelled, reportedly the highest on a single day in IndiGo's history. However, Elbers said the cancellations were "imperative for progressive improvements, starting from Saturday."
Watch: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers says, "I want to share that we have experienced severe operational disruptions over the past few days. Today, December 5th, has been the most severely impacted day, with cancellations exceeding a thousand flights, accounting for more than half of… pic.twitter.com/LCWEH2XXwT
— IANS (@ians_india) December 5, 2025
"The situation is a result of various causes," Elbers said, and added the airline has planned a three-pronged strategy to address the crisis. The CEO of the largest domestic airline operator in the country advised passengers of cancelled flights not to travel to the airport.
Elbers said refund measures were communicated, and call centre services have been ramped up to address stranded passengers. "Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved," Elbers asserted.
"Cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start afresh tomorrow morning. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettably, have proven not to be enough. We have decided today for a reboot of all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest number of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," the CEO said.
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Suggesting a deviation from its promise given to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of returning to normalcy by December 10, Elbers said, "We expect tomorrow (Saturday) to have cancellations below 1000. The support of DGCA in providing specific FDTL implementation relief is of great help." He added, "Given the size, scale and complexity of our operation, it will take some time to return to a full, normal situation, which we do anticipate between December 10 and 15."
The IndiGo CEO's statement comes hours after the DGCA announced a probe into the airline's operations. The probe panel has been directed to submit its report within 15 days. Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said they are expecting a normalcy in operations from Saturday. The Union minister added that necessary action will be taken against the airline based on the DGCA's report.
