Indigo crisis: Not just past week, travellers unhappy with airline’s services all through 2025

Budget carrier IndiGo has been grappling with a severe spell of flight cancellations this past week, but a new LocalCircles survey has revealed that passenger frustration against the airline has been growing over the past 12 months. Delays, poor communication and deteriorating staff conduct have emerged as critical pain points for travellers in the year so far, according to nationwide survey.

The study, which captured 15,938 responses from passengers across 301 districts, highlights the plight of passengers as the airline’s service standards slip significantly despite expanding operations.

The LocalCircle’s survey, revealed that timeliness, poor and staff behaviour top the list of passenger complaints. Around 54% of respondents, said that timeliness was something the carrier lacked, moreover, 45% of passengers surveyed said that airline’s staff were rude and lacked courteousness.
Also read | Indigo crisis causes ‘full-blown chaos’ at airports: What passengers said on X

Travellers frequently reported delayed departures, repeated last-minute schedule changes and inadequate information during such disruptions. Many described their interactions with staff were marked by impatience and a lacked empathy, particularly when flights were delayed.

Other issues flagged by passengers over the 12 months included, poor baggage handling (42%), lack of proper communication by Indigo’s customer service (32%), while 27% respondents said quality and maintenance of aircraft, was not up to the mark.

Also read | Over 250 IndiGo flights cancelled as airline grapples with crew shortage

Meanwhile, 23% revealed that food quality of the airline was not satisfactory, and 19% raised other issues. Overall, compared to 2024, complaints over transparency in redressing issues jumped from 27% to 45%.

The findings suggest a consistent decline in service quality throughout the year by Indigo, rather than an involuntary crisis triggered by the recent crew shortage or external operational challenges.

According to the LocalCircles survey, the 12-month trend of rising complaints coincides with fluctuating on-time performance, dropping from 92.4% in 2021 to 85.4% in 2023, and down to 69.69% in 2024. Its current on-time arrival rate has partially recovered to around 80-82%.

Many of the respondents have called for a stronger passenger grievances redressal mechanism. LocalCircles shared that many of the issues flagged by passengers fall outside the scope of routine DGCA inquiries. The survey captured responses from 15,938 IndiGo passengers, of which 62% were men and 38% women.