While the chaos caused by IndiGo's erratic flight cancellations continues in airports, the airline on Sunday said it has disbursed over Rs 610 crore as refunds and delivered over 3,000 pieces of baggage to respective passengers. The development comes as top executives of IndiGo face a show cause notice from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The civil aviation ministry said in a statement that it is closely monitoring the situation and the situation is improving. IndiGo said its "performance has shown steady improvement today, with flight schedules moving back towards normal levels," the ministry said. The airline said it would have operated 1,650 services by the end of today.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture is likely to summon IndiGo's top executives and seek an explanation. It is also likely to summon civil aviation ministry officials and seek explanation. "Quite a few members are saying that this matter should be taken up by the committee. It is an issue of national importance and thus will be taken up. It is important to find out why this has happened and what was the role played by various stakeholders — from the private airline to the airport authority — in this whole chaos,” a senior member of the panel told Indian Express.
Earlier, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued show cause notices to top officials in IndiGo, to respond within 24 hours, seeking an explanation over the flight disruptions. However, the aviation watchdog has now given more time to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and the Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras to submit their responses to the notices.
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"Both have been granted 24 hours more or time till 6pm on Monday to submit their replies, a senior official said on Sunday to PTI. The deadline for replies were extended following requests from both the airline executives, an official said.
"The two executives on Sunday had sought additional time for a response citing operational constraints due to the scale of its nationwide operations and multiple unavoidable factors that contributed to disruptions across several airports," the official told the publication.
