‘Most severely impacted day’: Indigo CEO issues public apology after over half of flights cancelled

IndiGo chief executive Pieter Elbers issued a public apology on December 5 as the airline grappled with its worst day of disruptions, cancelling more than 1,000 flights—over half its daily operations.

"I, on behalf of all of us at IndiGo, would like to extend our sincerest apologies for the major inconvenience this has caused to many of our customers on account of delays or cancellations," Elbers said in a video statement.

Friday marked the peak of a multi-day crisis that has left thousands of passengers stranded. The airline took the drastic step of executing what Elbers described as a complete system reset after earlier recovery attempts failed.

"Cancellations were made for today as to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start afresh tomorrow morning," he explained. "Regrettably, earlier measures of the last few days have proven not to be enough."

The decision to implement a widespread "reboot of all our systems and schedules" resulted in the highest number of cancellations so far, but Elbers said the move was necessary for progressive improvements starting Saturday.

The airline expects cancellations to drop below 1,000 on December 6, Saturday, with gradual improvements each subsequent day. However, Elbers warned passengers that a full return to normal operations remains days away.

"Given the size, scale and complexity of our operations, it will take some time to return to a full normal situation, which we anticipate between December 10 and 15," he said.

IndiGo focused on clearing a backlog of stranded passengers, primarily at India's largest airports. The airline said all customers affected by Thursday's disruptions were accommodated on Friday. Passengers with cancelled flights were urged not to travel to airports, with notifications sent directly.

The carrier received flight duty time limitations relief from India's aviation regulator, the DGCA, to help manage the crisis. IndiGo coordinated its recovery plan with both the DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The airline has increased call centre capacity and sent detailed communications about refunds, cancellations and customer support through social media and direct channels.

Elbers acknowledged the damage to passenger confidence. "I do understand that these disruptions have caused much discomfort to our customers and has shaken their belief in IndiGo's reliability carefully build over past 19 years," he said, adding that staff had been "working relentlessly to address this situation".

He pledged to restore and strengthen customer trust over time, promising ongoing updates as the airline works towards full operational recovery.