IndiGo, the nation’s largest airline by market share, said it has been quickly refunding sums owed to passengers whose flights were suspended during the lockdown after it resumed full operations in May 2020.
IndiGo reported that owing to the full closure of air services in 2020, they have refunded 99.5 percent of the total amount owed to their customers. By Supreme Court order, travellers who were unable to travel due to the pandemic-induced lockdown last year were to obtain a full refund.
“The airline has already processed close to 1,030 crores in refunds, which amounts to around 99.95 percent of the total amount owed to its customers,” the airline spokesperson said. “IndiGo is awaiting bank transfer reports from customers on the pending credit shells, which are mainly cash transactions.”
The situation appears to be improving, according to Advocate Shirish Deshpande, chairman of Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, a Mumbai-based customer association, as the number of reports against airlines has decreased.
“The sudden onset of Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown brought our operations to a complete halt by the end of March, 2020,” said IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta. “Owing to the disruption in our incoming cash flow from ticket sales, we were unable to process refunds for cancelled flights immediately and had to build credit shells for the refunds that were due to our customers. With the resumption of operations and a steady rise in demand for air travel, our top priority has been to promptly refund the credit shell numbers. We are happy to report that we have disbursed 99.95 percent of credit shell payments and will finish the remaining payments as soon as we obtain the required information from the customers”, he added.
“Refunds are the target of a very limited number of complaints. In the last eight days, we haven’t got any complaints. However, it must be checked if the airlines are paying the interest sum ordered by the Supreme Court,” Deshpande said.
“On an IndiGo flight from Bengaluru to Jaipur, a baby girl was born. The baby was born by the crew with the assistance of a doctor on board “Indigo said in a statement. While travelling in IndiGo6E from Bengluru to Jaipur, Dr. Subahana Nazir, a NWRailways Doctor, attended to a medical emergency and assisted in the delivery of a baby on-board.
