New Delhi, December 4, 2025— IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Thursday acknowledged that the airline failed to deliver a satisfactory travel experience in recent days as large-scale operational disruptions led to widespread cancellations and delays across the network. He said the immediate priority is to stabilise operations and restore punctuality, a task he described as “not an easy target”.
In a message to IndiGo employees, Elbers said the past few days had been challenging for customers and staff alike. More than 300 flights were cancelled on Thursday, while many others faced significant delays, adding to passenger frustration.
“We serve close to 380,000 customers a day and want each of them to have a good experience. We could not live up to that promise these past days and we have publicly apologised for that,” he said.
Elbers attributed the disruption to a combination of factors that created a cascading impact. These included minor technology issues, schedule changes, adverse weather, congestion across the aviation ecosystem, and the rollout of new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms. Together, these challenges strained the airline’s network, which operates around 2,300 flights daily.
As a result, IndiGo’s on-time performance dropped sharply to 19.7% on December 3—one of the airline’s lowest in recent memory.
“Given the size, scale and complexity of our network, these disruptions grow large immediately and require interventions on multiple levels. A lot of work is underway. Our immediate goal is to normalise operations and bring punctuality back on track in the coming days,” Elbers said.
