IndiGo ops crumble, over 550 flights scrapped; flyers fume

IndiGo’s network spiralled into a full-scale crisis on Thursday, with India’s largest airline scrapping more than 550 flights and delaying hundreds more as mounting crew shortages and apron congestion paralysed operations for the third straight day. The collapse rippled across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow and several other airports, stranding thousands and igniting public anger.The airline, once synonymous with punctuality, saw its “on time performance” sink to an extraordinary 19.7 per cent on Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon, cancellations had surged past 300, with scores of aircraft grounded for lack of available crew and for want of parking bays.

The Pune airport issued a rare operational bulletin capturing the scale of the gridlock. Officials confirmed eight arrivals and eight departures cancelled, 19 flights delayed beyond an hour and 11 IndiGo aircraft stuck on the ground waiting for pilots. The prolonged occupation of bays set off a domino effect, delaying even non-IndiGo flights as incoming aircraft waited for space to park. Airport teams across terminal management, the CISF, the ATC and ground handling were placed on emergency footing to ease apron congestion.

In Lucknow, the frustration spilled over as stranded passengers raised slogans at Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport. IndiGo’s deputy airport manager Krishna Kant Bharti said six flights to Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai had already been cancelled, with more on the brink. He attributed the crunch partly to the new flight duty time limitations (FDTL) rules, which cap pilot flying hours and mandate longer rest intervals. IndiGo operates 35 flights daily from the city.

The national capital saw 150 cancellations, split evenly between arrivals and departures. Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport reported 136 cancellations across Wednesday and Thursday, including 41 arrivals and 32 departures in a single morning. Mumbai logged 86 cancellations over the day, while Kolkata reported 19 cancellations and more than 150 delays in 24 hours.

In Goa, 11 IndiGo flights were cancelled on Thursday while 25 flights of the airline were delayed.

Amid the escalating crisis, the Centre has asked IndiGo to stabilise its network without delay and to prepare a phased recruitment roadmap for pilots, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

Senior airline executives met the top brass of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday to brief them on the collapse and outline mitigation measures underway.

Facing public criticism, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers admitted in an internal message that the airline had fallen short on even basic service standards this week. Serving 3.8 lakh passengers a day, he said, meant that any operational shock “grows large immediately”, adding that the immediate aim was to pull punctuality back on track, a goal he warned “will not be easy”.

He pointed to a mix of schedule changes, minor tech hiccups, weather disruptions, airspace congestion and the newly enforced FDTL norms as jointly triggering the collapse. IndiGo operates about 2,300 flights daily.

The Airline Pilots’ Association of India sharply rejected the idea that the duty time rules were to blame, calling the crisis “self-inflicted” and rooted in poor airline planning.

The union said carriers had nearly a year to prepare for the phased rollout of the norms introduced in January 2024 but attempted to overhaul rosters only at the last minute. The revised rules, aimed at combating chronic pilot fatigue, did not require large-scale hiring, the association argued, only disciplined scheduling and responsible forecasting.

With aircraft stranded, aprons choked and crew rosters stretched thin, IndiGo continues to prune schedules as it attempts to restore its battered operations. The airline has offered no timeline for when normalcy will return.

Meanwhile, the DGCA said in a statement on Thursday, “IndiGo’s operational disruptions/cancellations of flights across the network were reviewed by the Civil Aviation Minister along with senior officials from the ministry and the airline, and the situation is being closely monitored by the ministry.”

“To reduce passenger inconvenience while maintaining safety margins, IndiGo has requested operational variations/exemptions from specific FDTL provisions para 3.11 (definition of night duty) and 6.1.4 (for operations encroaching night duty) for A320 operations up to February 10, 2026. IndiGo has assured the DGCA that corrective actions are underway and that normalised and stable operations will be fully restored by February 10, 2026,” the statement said.

DGCA officials said more cancellations would continue for the next two-three days as part of schedule stabilisation efforts and from December 8 onwards, the airline would reduce its flight operations to minimise disruption.