IndiGo Boasts of On-Time Performance Amid Continued Flight Disruptions & Moody's Downgrading

New Delhi: Amid massive chaos and mayhem at several key airports around India, IndiGo boasted of its on-time performance improving to 91% on Monday. This comes as the aviation crisis entered the seventh day, triggered by the cancellation and delay of scores of IndiGo flights. The disruptions, IndiGo claimed, were due to a shortage of pilots after the DGCA amended the FDTL rules. The aviation crisis is expected to improve in the coming days since the DGCA scrapped the changes in the rules that triggered the staffing shortage.

Despite cancelling hundreds of flights on Monday, IndiGo released a press release, saying, “IndiGo has recorded considerable and consistent improvement across the network. Today, we are all set to operate over 1,800 flights, connecting all stations that we operate to.”

The airline added, “We have optimised our operations and managed to reduce the number of cancellations which are being notified to customers in advance, and our on-time performance (OTP) has also improved to 91% across the network.”

It noted that the number of flights operated today (1,800) has increased from yesterday's number of 1,650. Meanwhile, the on-time performance has jumped to 91% from yesterday's data of 75%. 

'Network Coverage Restored'

Claiming that the network coverage has been “fully restored”, IndiGo said, “All cancellations in today’s schedule were executed yesterday, ensuring advance notifications being sent to customers.”

It also stated that it is committed to assisting its customers and addressing their queries and requests on a “war footing”. It further said that a total of Rs 827 crore have been refunded to the affected passengers and the rest of the refunds for cancellations up to December 15 are already under process.

'We Ensured Passengers' Well-Being'

In its press release, IndiGo stated that it ensured the well-being of its passengers between December 1 to December 7 by facilitating stranded customers and arranging over 9,500 hotel rooms and nearly 10,000 cabs/buses for them. It added that it delivered over 4500 stranded bags to their respective owners and is on track to deliver the remaining stranded luggage in the next 36 hours.

It further claimed that it assisted over 2 lakh customers every day via various communication channels.

“We continue to work in full cooperation with the authorities to restore normalcy in operations…Once again, we would like to extend our sincerest apologies for the flight disruptions in the past few days. We are deeply grateful for the patience and understanding shown by our passengers, as well as the unwavering commitment of our employees and partners,” IndiGo added.

Check Flight Status Before Reaching Airport

IndiGo also told all its customers to check the latest status of their flights at https://www.goindigo.in/check-flight-status.html before reaching the airport. 

Refund Assistance

The airline asked customers to visit its website, https://www.goindigo.in/refund.html for refund assistance, if any, through customer support.

Moody's Downgrading

Global credit rating agency Moody's has downgraded IndiGo's issuer category score for human capital to 4 from 3. It called IndiGo's flight disruptions "credit negative" and signalled at the likeliness of a significant financial damage.

IndiGo Shares Fall

Shares of IndiGo dropped another 7.41% on Monday, marking the seventh consecutive session of declines. The stock, which opened at 5100.05, hit an intraday low of 4965.05. This comes after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) slapped the airline with a show-cause notice over widespread operational chaos and flight cancellations.

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