IndiGo crisis: Is airline really back to normal? CEO Pieter Elbers gives update

As IndiGo Airlines crisis continues, the major domestic aviation operator on Tuesday claimed its operations have stabilised, and it operated over 1,800 services on the day. The major airline claimed it has disbursed Rs 827 crore as refunds for cancelled tickets.

Claiming it is continuing to address customer needs, the airline, in a recent statement on Tuesday, said its entire network has been "fully restored". The airline said that it pre-notified cancellations for the day and claimed "90 per cent on-time performance across the network."

The airline claimed it has delivered over 4,500 bags to passengers, and remaining deliveries will be done within 36 hours. In the latest video message, IndiGo CEO Peter Elbers said that lakhs of customers, whose flights were cancelled or delayed, have already received their full refunds. He said the process is continuing on a daily basis. 

"IndiGo is back on its feet, and our operations are stable. We've let you down when a major operational disruption happened, and we're sorry for that," Elbers said in the video message. Elbers claimed their operations have "fully stabilised" and flights now reflected on IndGo's website are scheduled to operate with an adjusted network.

Responding to the show-cause notice issued by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday, the CEO and COO of the airline sought 15 days time as per DGCA's manual to provide a detailed Root Cause Analysis for the chaos. The top executives said they were "profusely apologetic" for the disruption in its services. 

According to IndiGo, five reasons led to the massive disruption in services: minor technical glitches, schedule changes linked to the start of the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system, and implementation of and operation under the updated crew rostering rules (Flight Duty Time Limitation Phase II).