INDIGO, which has been facing significant operational disruptions, on Thursday announced that it will offer travel vouchers worth Rs 10,000 to each passenger whose flights were cancelled or delayed for long during December 3-5. The compensation would be in addition to the amount that needs to be provided to passengers for flight cancellations under DGCA norms. In a statement, IndiGo said it regrettably acknowledges that part of its customers travelling on December 3, 4 and 5 were stranded for many hours at certain airports, and a number of them were severely impacted by congestion. “We will offer travel vouchers worth Rs 10,000 to such severely impacted customers.

 

These travel vouchers can be used for any future IndiGo journey for the next 12 months,” it said. A s pecial four-member Committee of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will meet with IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers on Friday to question the latter on the widespread cancellation of flights last week. The four-member Committee has been constituted to examine the flight disruptions caused by IndiGo, which have created complete chaos at various airports.

 

IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers arrived at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday for a meeting, amid the airline’s ongoing efforts to address customer grievances and operational disruptions reported earlier this month. The country’s largest airline is also facing regulatory heat, and authorities have directed it to reduce winter schedule flights by 10 per cent to stabilise its operations. The carrier was operating around 2,300 flights a day till the disruptions began on December 2.

 

“This compensation is in addition to the commitment under the existing Government guidelines, as per which, IndiGo will provide compensation of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 depending on the block time of the flight, to those customers whose flights were cancelled within 24 hours of departure time,” the statement said. INDIGO BOARD TO BRING IN EXTERNAL EXPERTS TO REVIEW FLIGHT DISRUPTIONS: CHAIRMAN VIKRAM SINGH MEHTA: INDIGO Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta on Thursday said that the airline’s Board will bring in external technical experts to work with the management and identify the root causes behind last week’s massive flight disruptions. In a detailed statement, Mehta said the experts will help ensure that such largescale operational failures never happen again.

 

Mehta began his message by apologising to passengers affected by the disruptions that occurred between December 3 and 5. He said thousands of travellers were stranded, with many missing important personal events, business meetings, medical appointments and international connections. Baggage delays further added to the chaos.