New Delhi: IndiGo Airlines said on Monday that it will refund all customer shells which were created when flights were cancelled during the two-month flight ban due to the coronavirus lockdown earlier this year.
The airline plans to refund the remaining 10% by the end of January 31, 2021.
In a statement, the airline said it has already processed close to Rs 1,000 crore of refunds, which is approximately 90% of the total amount it owed to its customers. The 90% of passengers who have been paid their dues total to 20 lakh customers approximately.
The lockdown, which was imposed on March 25, 2020, had banned domestic and international travel in the country. When the flights were suspended during the COVID-induced lockdown, instead of refunding the tickets, airlines had begun a practice to keep these amount in a credit shell.
Passengers could use these credit shells to book on a later date, but with certain restrictions.
Ronojoy Dutta, Chief executive of IndiGo said that the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 and the lockdown had brought the airline's operation to a complete halt by the end of March.
"As our incoming cash flow dried up, we were unable to immediately process refunds for cancelled flights and had to credit shells for the refunds that were due to our customers," he said.
However, with the resumption of operations, there was a steady increase in the demand for air travel. The airline's priority has been to refund credit shell amounts in an expedited manner.
Dutta added, "We are pleased to commit that we will disburse the full 100% credit shell payments latest by January 31, 2021."
India resumed scheduled domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in the country since March 23 due to the pandemic.
However, airlines have been permitted to operate special international flights under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under the bilateral air bubble pacts since July.