Budget carrier IndiGo on Thursday announced that from midnight onwards it was increasing its fees for cancellation and particulars changes, which are done in a three-day period before the flight's departure, by Rs 500.

"The revision only applies if the change or cancellation is made within 0-3 days of the travel dates. The charges remain the same in case a passenger is making the change four or more days in advance of the travel dates," IndiGo said in a statement.

The carrier said for domestic flights the fees for cancellation and changes would now be Rs 3,500 and Rs 3,000 respectively if it was done within three days of the flight's departure.

If the cancellation or detail change is done on a domestic ticket at any time apart from the aforementioned three-day period, the fees would remain at Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,500 respectively, the airline said. Before this announcement, IndiGo charged a flat rate of Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,500 for cancellation and detail changes on domestic tickets.

In line with the passenger charter released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) in February this year, the airline has already allowed its customers to make any changes or cancellations free of charge within 24 hours of booking on domestic flights, provided they have booked their tickets at least seven days in advance of the scheduled departure.

William Boulter, chief commercial officer, IndiGo said, "We have revised our flight cancellation and change fee effective midnight today. This will help us bring down the last-minute changes to a minimum, enabling better capacity utilisation on-board. Improved processes will help us to continue providing IndiGo's on-time, courteous and hassle-free service at affordable fares."

For international flights flying within the Indian sub-continent, the fees for cancellation and changes would now be Rs 3,500 and Rs 3,000 respectively, if it is done within the three-day period before the flight's departure.

For cancellation and changes done on any other time period apart from the aforesaid three-day period, the passenger would be shelling out Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,500 respectively, on international flights within the Indian sub-continent.

A fee of Rs 5,000 would now be charged if a ticket is cancelled within the three-day period before departure on a flight connecting India with the region of "South East, Middle East and rest of Asia", the airline stated.

For flights in this region, the cancellation fee would remain at Rs 4,500 if it is done at any time apart from the aforesaid three-day period. On IndiGo's Delhi-Istanbul flight, the cancellation and detail change fees would be Rs 6,500 and Rs 5,000 respectively, if done in the mentioned three-day period, the airline said.

For any other time apart from the three-day period, the cancellation and change fees would remain at Rs 6,000 and Rs 4,500 for Delhi-Istanbul flight, the airline stated.

IndiGo has a codeshare agreement with Turkish airlines which allows the former's passengers to book tickets with the latter on any route connecting Istanbul to 12 destinations in Europe using the former's website only.

The IndiGo said Thursday that for such codeshare flights in the European sector, the fees for cancellation and change would be Rs 6,500 and Rs 5,000 respectively if it is done within three-day period before the flight's departure.

For any other time apart from the three-day period, the cancellation and change fees on such codeshare flights would remain at Rs 6,000 and Rs 4,500 respectively.