IndiGo refutes report which rated it among world’s worst airlines

Low-cost airline IndiGo on Wednesday refuted findings of a report which claimed that IndiGo has been ranked among the world’s worst airlines this year.

The ‘AirHelp Score report 2024’ placed the domestic carrier near the bottom at 103rd place out of 109 analysed. The report also ranked Air India at 61st and AirAsia at 94th.

In a statement, IndiGo said that India’s aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), publishes data on airline punctuality and customer complaints monthly.

“IndiGo has consistently scored high on punctuality and has the lowest customer complaint ratio for an airline of its size and scale of operations,” said the airline.

It further stated that the data published in the survey by AirHelp, an EU claim processing agency, “does not report the sample size from India, and neither takes into account the methodology or compensation guidelines used by the global aviation industry – casting a doubt on its credibility”.

“As India’s most preferred airline, IndiGo refutes the findings of this survey and reiterates its promise of on-time, affordable, courteous and hassle-free travel experience for its customers,” said the aviation major.

According to the DGCA data, during the nine-month period (January-September), budget carrier IndiGo carried more than 7.25 crore passengers, clocking a market share of 61.3 per cent, followed by Tata Group-run Air India flying over 1.64 crore passengers with 13.9 per cent share.

With its fleet of more than 380 aircraft, the airline is operating around 2,100 daily flights and connecting over 85 domestic destinations and more than 30 international destinations.

Brussels Airlines, Qatar Airways and United Airlines occupy the top three spots in the AirHelp report.

The annual report by AirHelp, a company specialising in passenger compensation claims, covered data from January to October. It used factors such as global customer claims, on-time performance, and feedback from travellers across 54 countries – assessing aspects like food quality, seating comfort, and crew service – to rank the airlines.

(With inputs from IANS)