IndiGo’s ‘sorry’ note finds few takers

When IndiGo, which carries a dominant share of India’s aviation traffic, cancelled thousands of flights after failing to implement new crew duty rules, the result was a spectacle of disorder.

Thousands of passengers were stranded and social feeds became a stream of missed celebrations, collective fury, and human exhaustion. The chaos revealed more than a scheduling failure. It showed how fragile the system is when accountability slips.

Fractional CMO Saurabh Parmar saw the meltdown as the natural result of a corporate culture that treats crisis communication as an afterthought. “The Indigo fiasco is a classic case of what happens when businesses do not have a social friendly crisis communications strategy and most Indian businesses don't,” he noted on LinkedIn.

The collapse also exposed a wider failure of crisis readiness. As Nucleus PR managing partner Tarunjeet Rattan observed, the situation quickly became a “triple loss” in which the airline stumbled, the government reacted late and competitors leaned into predatory fares instead of goodwill. A moment that could have showcased responsibility across the aviation ecosystem slipped through everyone’s fingers.

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Against this backdrop, IndiGo issued a full-page apology on Saturday, a blue sheet on page two of The Times of India with three bold white words: We Are Sorry. For many, it soothed little and singed more.

We asked a few communications and marketing experts for their take on the apology note.

Edited excerpts.

Neeti Nayak, founder, The Gist, a communications consultancy

The ad feels more like an in-flight announcement than an apology. A chance to rebuild trust was reduced to a passive, placeholder message that says “sorry” without saying anything. This could have outlined steps being taken or offered some reasoning. Instead, it leaves you with a “sorry but not really” impression.

Tarunjeet Rattan, managing partner, Nucleus PR

What an opportunity squandered. A crisis is the moment to show a brand’s character, and IndiGo’s full-page apology did the opposite.

The crores spent on print should have gone into real-time customer recovery: activating crews, reimbursing travellers, prioritising medical cases and arranging alternatives as per DGCA norms.

That is what a crisis-ready, customer-first brand does. Instead, the apology reads like expensive lip service while customers remained stranded and furious. It is a textbook example of how to waste money, lose goodwill and miss the clearest reputation-building moment of the year.

Bhaskar Majumdar, senior communication consultant

IndiGo’s print advertisement today is a smart and strategic marketing move, especially in the middle of a crisis. When pressure is high, strong brands do not withdraw, they communicate with purpose and acknowledge the situation.

By choosing print, a medium associated with trust, authority and reach, IndiGo reinforces its commitment to passengers and showcases confidence in its service ethos. Proactive communication reassures customers, tries to stabilise perception and signals that the brand is acknowledging the situation and working towards the betterment of service.

In difficult moments, decisive messaging becomes a competitive advantage and IndiGo has demonstrated exactly that.

Jyotsna Dash Nanda, AVP, corporate communications, DS Group

IndiGo's front-page newspaper apology is a classic crisis response playbook that leverages visibility and sincerity in the high-stakes meltdown caused by FDTL non-compliance.

Owning the inconvenience without deflecting it humanises the brand, signals accountability and, to an extent, pre-empts the amplification of social media backlash in a print-savvy India.

However, the effectiveness depends on a quick follow-through, detailed recovery timelines, compensation proofs and operation fixes, or else it will be dismissed as performative amidst smoother handling by competitors.

In this volume-driven crisis, the ad rebuilds trust incrementally but demands integrated digital amplification and stakeholder updates to convert remorse into loyalty by avoiding hollow rhetoric.

Nikhil Narayanan, head of creative and brand, Zlade

Taking out the most expensive real estate piece in print media when hundreds of customers are waiting for their refunds seemed a little tone-deaf.