IndiGo chaos: Why is India’s largest airline canceling hundreds of flights?

Air question crossed India has been successful chaos successful the past week aft the country’s largest airline, IndiGo, cancelled much than 2,000 flights starting connected Friday, stranding thousands of passengers astatine airports crossed the country.

The airline, which operates astir 2,200 flights a day, has been facing aviator shortages aft it failed to accommodate to the caller aviator remainder and work rules introduced by the authorities aboriginal past year.

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Mass cancellations of flights amid the engaged question play person caused a nationalist outcry, forcing the authorities to intervene. The hose has been granted exemptions from the caller rules, but the disruption has continued, with much than 600 flights cancelled connected Sunday.

The hose says operations volition beryllium backmost to mean by December 10-15. The situation is the biggest stroke to the bearer successful its 20-year operation.

What is down the crisis, and what is the authorities doing to code it?

What we cognize truthful far

Starting connected December 2, IndiGo flights were delayed and aboriginal cancelled owed to evident aviator shortages. Flight disruptions were recorded successful Mumbai, Hyderabad and different cities.

On Friday, astatine slightest 1,000 flights were cancelled successful 1 of the worst aviation crises successful India.

More than 600 flights were cancelled connected Sunday, according to the Indian media, contempt the authorities offering exemptions to the backstage carrier. At slightest 385 flights were cancelled connected Saturday, the 5th time of the crisis.

Thousands of passengers person been stranded astatine airports crossed the state owed to the aerial disruption.

The Reuters quality bureau reported, quoting airdrome sources, that IndiGo cancelled 124 flights successful Bengaluru, 109 successful Mumbai, 86 successful New Delhi and 66 successful Hyderabad connected Saturday.

Passengers stitchery extracurricular Indigo preservation antagonistic wrong Terminal 1 of Indira Gandhi International Airport aft wide cancellation of Indigo flights connected December 05, 2025 successful New Delhi [Ritesh Shukla/Getty Images]

Why did the caller formation regulations pb to formation cancellations?

Early past year, the authorities announced caller formation regulations – Flight Duty Time Limitations oregon FDTL – to amended the moving hours of the Indian airlines’ pilots. However, erstwhile the November 1 deadline arrived, IndiGo hose was not prepared. As a result, it was archetypal forced to hold and aboriginal cancel flights, arsenic determination were not capable pilots available.

FDTL was yet implemented successful 2 phases this year, with the 2nd signifier coming into effect connected November 1. The rules include:

• Increasing pilots’ mandatory play remainder play from 36 to 48 hours. A pilot’s idiosyncratic permission request, however, cannot beryllium included nether the mandatory remainder period.
• Capping pilots’ flying hours that proceed into the nighttime to 10 hours.
• Capping the play fig of landings a aviator tin marque betwixt midnight and aboriginal greeting to two.
• Submitting quarterly pilots’ fatigue reports to India’s aviation regulator – the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Aviation experts and aviator unions person said IndiGo has been the hardest deed owed to negligence and a deficiency of readying for the caller rules.

“Despite the two-year preparatory model earlier afloat FDTL implementation, the hose inexplicably adopted a hiring freeze, entered non-poaching arrangements, maintained a aviator wage frost done cartel-like behaviour, and demonstrated different short-sighted readying practices,” the Federation of Indian Pilots told the Press Trust of India quality bureau connected December 4.

Former AirAsia CFO Vijay Gopalan blamed IndiGo’s “very precise lackadaisical, nonchalant attitude” successful adapting to the caller rules arsenic a crushed for the crisis.

What steps has the authorities taken to code the crisis?

The authorities has ordered a high-level enquiry to find the reasons and accountability for formation disruptions.

Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu blamed IndiGo for “mismanagement regarding their crew”, adding that different airlines were prepared for the changes.

The authorities connected Friday announced exemptions from the caller rules for the bearer and provided stranded passengers with bid tickets to proceed their journey.

IndiGo has been exempted until February 10 from the request to headdress the play fig of landings for a aviator betwixt midnight and aboriginal morning. It has besides been exempted from the pilots’ formation work time.

The Airline Pilots Association of India has, however, protested against the exemptions, saying the rules “exist solely to safeguard quality life”.

On Saturday, India’s aviation watchdog, the DGCA, sent a missive to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers, informing him of regulatory enactment amid formation cancellations.

“You person failed successful your work to guarantee timely arrangements for behaviour of reliable operations,” Reuters reported, quoting DGCA authoritative Ravinder Singh Jamwal.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation connected Saturday besides announced capping of airfares to power the surge successful summons prices owed to a breakdown successful IndiGo’s formation services.

IndiGo is the largest backstage hose controlling astir 60 percent of the home marketplace [File: AP Photo]

When volition the IndiGo operations instrumentality to normal?

Acknowledging its nonaccomplishment to accommodate to the caller rules, IndiGo has apologised for the superior “operational crisis”. It attributed the wide cancellations to “misjudgement and readying gaps”.

IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said successful a video connection connected Friday that it would “take immoderate time” for the formation operations to get backmost to normal.

“Given the size, scale, and complexity of our operations, it volition instrumentality immoderate clip to instrumentality to a afloat mean situation, which we expect betwixt 10 and 15 December,” helium said successful the video.

In his message, Elbers announced that the hose has 3 lines of enactment to code the crisis, which see lawsuit enactment measures to efficaciously pass cancellations and refunds, aligning with the DGCA’s regulations.

The hose connected Sunday day said it is connected way to run much than 1,650 flights, up from 1,500 connected Saturday. It added that 137 retired of 138 destinations are successful operation. Full waiver connected cancellations and reschedule requests for bookings until December 15 volition beryllium given, it said.

Message from Pieter Elbers, CEO, IndiGo. pic.twitter.com/bXFdqoB0Q2

— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) December 5, 2025

How are different starring Indian airlines managing?

Other Indian carriers, including Air India and Akasa Air, proceed with their operations amid the chaos.

According to Indian media reports, Mumbai-based low-cost bearer Akasa Air, focused connected recruiting caller pilots, which helped it accommodate to the caller FDTL norms.

A study by Indian concern portal Money Control noted that Tata-owned Air India besides boosted formation unit for home flights, helping it amended grip the caller rules.

However, planetary flights by Air India and its sister company, fund bearer Air India Express, person reduced planetary formation operations to undertake much information checks aft a deadly June level crash that killed 241 radical successful Gujarat state.

Has the situation impacted airfare?

Yes. With IndiGo dominating the Indian aviation market, different airlines person hiked prices connected galore routes, particularly instrumentality flights from metro cities New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

“That wasn’t pricing. It was profiteering. When systems collapse, the marketplace becomes a vulture,” posted an X idiosyncratic aft summons prices soared.

According to Indian media reports, the Civil Aviation Ministry has warned airlines that it has “taken a superior enactment of unusually precocious airfares being charged by definite airlines during the ongoing disruption” and has successful crook “invoked its regulatory powers to guarantee just and tenable fares crossed each affected routes.”

As per a Reuters report, the authorities has said formation journeys betwixt 1,000km and 1,500km (620-930 miles) should beryllium capped astatine 15,000 rupees ($167).

Airfares were antecedently capped successful India successful May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, erstwhile the subcontinent ordered lockdowns and reduced formation operations. According to a survey published past November by planetary commercialized relation Airports Council International (ACI), India, however, saw a 43 percent emergence successful home fares successful the archetypal fractional of 2024 compared with 2019.

So far, Air India and Air India Express, which clasp 26 percent of the marketplace share, person addressed the concern and clarified that “economy people airfares connected non-stop home flights person been proactively capped to forestall the accustomed demand-and-supply mechanics being applied by gross absorption systems”.

The 2 airlines added that they are seeking to adhd capableness to assistance travellers and their baggage scope their last destinations efficiently.