Amid the ongoing aviation crisis, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Saturday (6th December), seeking an explanation for the mass flight delays, cancellations and operational breakdowns this week. The DGCA has given Elbers a 24-hour deadline to respond; failing to do so, he might face punitive action.
“As the CEO, you are responsible for ensuring effective management of the airlines, but you have failed in your duty to ensure timely arrangements for the conduct of reliable operations and the availability of requisite facilities to the passengers,” the DGCA notice stated.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issues a show-cause notice to IndiGo pic.twitter.com/MI4g1c7Vrf
— IANS (@ians_india) December 6, 2025
The notice pointed out that the flight delays and cancellations have caused “severe inconvenience, hardship and distress to passengers”.”…it has also been noticed that the primary cause of said flight disruptions is non-provisioning of adequate arrangements to cater to the revised requirements for smooth implementation of the approved FDTL scheme for the airline,” the notice read. “Whereas the airline has failed to provide requisite information and facilities to their passengers as stipulated under para 3 of CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV, issue 1 on Facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights,” it added.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers, who has 30 years of experience in the aviation business, has been heading the company since 2022. He took charge of the company soon after it came out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before joining IndiGo, Elbers was the President & Chief Executive Officer of Dutch carrier KLM for eight years. InngiGo experienced expansion during the tenure of Elbers as a result of his strategy of “internationalisation”.
Ministry of Civil Aviation directs IndiGo to adopt measures to restore operations
The massive flight disruption at IndiGo, which controls over 60 per cent of the domestic market share, triggered a countrywide aviation crisis. Hundreds of flights were cancelled by IndiGo over the past few days, and many other flights faced delays of several hours. The impact of the flight disruptions was particularly visible at airports in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Kolkata, where stranded passengers stood in long queues and filled terminal halls.
Amid the chaos, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has directed IndiGo to clear all pending refunds by Sunday (7th December) and reunite the separated baggage of passengers within two days. The airline has been directed to set up dedicated passenger-support and refund-facilitation cells to assist the aggrieved passengers and provide real-time updates. Senior IndiGo officials reportedly met ministry authorities on Sunday to apprise them about the measures being taken by the airline to restore flight operations and prevent further cancellations.
This was preceded by a meeting between the ministry officials and the IndiGo CEO on Saturday to review the ongoing situation. Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu, Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha, and DGCA Director General Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, along with other senior officials, were present in the meeting. Meanwhile, the Air India Group has offered assistance to stranded passengers.
