(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Ministry of Civil Aviation, on Saturday directed IndiGo to clear all pending passenger refunds without delay. The Ministry has mandated that the refund process for all cancelled or disrupted flights must be fully completed by 8:00 PM on Sunday, 7 December 2025.

Airlines have also been instructed not to charge any rescheduling fee for passengers whose travel plans were affected by cancellations. The Ministry further warned that any delay or non-compliance in refund processing will attract regulatory action, as per the official statement.

Track all the latest updates about IndiGo cancellations here

IndiGo operations across India remained severely disrupted for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday, 6 December – with more than 400 flights cancelled, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at airports in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Guwahati, and other cities.

Baggage, refund deadline – What all the govt has ordered?

The Ministry of Civil Aviation, in its statement, has mandated IndiGo to carry out the following:

• Complete refund process for disrupted or cancelled flights by 8:00 PM on Sunday, 7 December.
• Ensure that all baggage that was separated from passengers due to cancellations or delays is traced and delivered to the passenger's residential or chosen address within the next 48 hours.
• Set up cells for passenger support and refund cells and maintain automatic refunds until operations stabilise.
• To guarantee proper facilitation for senior citizens, differently-abled passengers, students, patients, and all those requiring urgent travel.

Earlier, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers apologised for the slew of flight cancellations, stating that the situation is expected to return to normal between December 10 and 15.

IndiGo fiasco

Air travel across India has been in turmoil this week after IndiGo cancelled thousands of flights – prompting the government to announce special relief for the carrier and the operation of additional trains to help clear the backlog.

Delhi Airport saw one of the highest cancellation counts, with authorities confirming that IndiGo scrapped 106 flights on Saturday morning - 54 departures and 52 arrivals. The disruption in the Capital is just one part of the crisis. At Goa's Dabolim Airport, at least 14 domestic IndiGo flights were also cancelled, a senior official said, according to news agency reports.

Chaotic scenes emerged from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Airport as furious passengers got into heated arguments with airline staff amid mass cancellations.

What started with flight cancellations, delays– spiraled into a saga of passenger frustration – with skyrocketing airfares adding to the already mounting chaos.

Huge increase in airfare

Airfares reached never seen before levels on Friday, with a one-way one-stop economy-class SpiceJet Kolkata-Mumbai flight ticket for December 6 costing up to ₹90,000, and a similar ticket of Air India for Mumbai-Bhubaneswar going up to ₹84,485, according to the airlines' websites, reported PTI.

"The last-minute fares are generally two-three times of the normal average fares. But in this situation, we have seen them surging even six times," a source was quoted by PTI as saying.

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