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Informist, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – Refusing to urgently list a petition on the recent delay and cancellation of Interglobe Aviation Ltd.-operated IndiGo's flights, the Supreme Court Monday said that the government has taken cognisance of the issue and timely action has been taken by them. IndiGo saw an unprecedented level of flight cancellations last week due to crew shortage, following enforcement of the new flight duty time limitation rules. These flight cancellations led to several passengers being stranded at airports across the country.

 

Observing that it was a "serious matter", Chief Justice of India Surya Kant Monday said, "We understand that lakhs of people are stranded at the airport. People having urgent work, people in need of urgent health issues. But the Government of India has taken cognisance. Timely action appears to have been taken. Let us see what happens after some time. There is no urgency right now." Another bench of the top court also refused to urgently list a case wherein it was hearing on the issue of surge price of airline tickets.

 

Further in another hearing, the Delhi High Court Monday listed on Wednesday a public interest litigation seeking directions to the Union government and IndiGo to provide support and proper refund to people affected by the crisis of delayed and cancelled flights. The petitioner in the high court had said that several people were stuck and the ground situation at airports was inhumane. "We are expecting the court to pass orders to Indigo and ground support for people stranded at the airport. There is no proper refund," said the petitioner.

 

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation Friday withdrew its order that allowed airlines to substitute leaves for crew members' weekly rest under the flight duty time limitation rules. After a conversation with airline operators and upon reviewing ongoing operational disruptions in flights, it withdrew the decision with immediate effect, according to a press release by the regulator.

 

The Ministry of Civil Aviation had directed IndiGo to clear all pending passenger refunds without any delay. The government mandated that the refund process be completed by Sunday, according to a press release from the Press Information Bureau. The ministry has also directed the company not to levy any rescheduling charges for passengers whose travel plans were affected by cancellations and clarified that any delay or non-compliance in refund processing will lead to immediate regulatory action. Further, The Ministry of Civil Aviation has capped the airfares and directed all airlines to follow the prescribed fares, according to a post on the social media platform 'X'. The government action came after a surge in airfares following the disruptions in IndiGo's flight operations.

 

Saturday, considering the high number of cancellations and inconvenience caused to customers, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation Saturday issued show-cause notices to Interglobe Aviation Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers and Chief Operating Officer Isidre Porqueras. Thereafter, DGCA gave a 24-hour extension to the CEO and COO to submit their responses to notices.

 

At 1138 IST, the shares of InterGlobe Aviation were trading down 7% at INR 4,994.00 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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