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Rohit Kumar

NEW DELHI, Dec 3: IndiGo, India’s largest airline particularly in the domestic sector, is facing one of its most severe operational breakdowns in recent years forcing the airlines to order cancellation of over 200 flights across the country on Wednesday following up 130 flights canceled on Tuesday.

Besides cancellation, shortage of pilots also caused massive delays of up to 12 hours exacerbated by some cabin crew no shows in Mumbai forcing the airline to issue an apology.

There was sloganeering against the airline at Delhi airport as passengers gathered at the boarding gate to protest a six-hour delay of a flight to Rajkot. The flight was scheduled to take off at 5.40 am and finally departed at 11.30 am There were similar scenes at other airports like Mumbai, where passengers were forced to return after waiting for 5-8 hours when for example the Mumbai to Patna flight scheduled to depart at 11.15 am was delayed multiple times with the latest update suggesting a 8 pm departure.

As per IndiGo’s website, the airline operates “well over 2,200 daily flights”. Government data from Tuesday shows the airline’s on-time performance plunging to just 35 per cent, a dramatic fall for a carrier long associated with punctuality. This implies over 1,400 flights were delayed on Tuesday.

The turbulence continued on Wednesday, when airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad collectively reported close to 200 cancellations by afternoon, triggering widespread disruption for domestic travellers. A significant factor behind the chaos was a sharp shortage of crew, particularly pilots, following the introduction of revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms last month. The new rules mandate more rest hours and humane rosters, but IndiGo has been struggling to realign its massive network accordingly.

At least 44 IndiGo flights were canceled at the Kempegowda international airport in Bengaluru for the second consecutive day while 33 flights were canceled in Hyderabad. The crisis in pilot availability is such that rostering teams have been appealing to pilots to cancel their sick leave and the management has even offered to pay 1.5 times the salary to those who forego their privilege leave, but this had not helped the matters.

Government data showed that only 35% of the airline’s flights were on time on December 2, and 49.5% were on time on December 1. The pilot shortage was triggered by full implementation of the stricter rest and duty norms for them effective from November 1 after delaying it for nearly two years to help the airlines better plan for more pilot recruitments.

Sources said many flights had to be grounded because no cabin crew was available, while others faced delays stretching up to eight hours. With IndiGo commanding more than 60 per cent of the domestic market, the ripple effect from its disrupted schedule has been felt system-wide.

“We acknowledge that IndiGo’s operations have been significantly disrupted across the network for the past two days, and we sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused. A multitude of unforeseen operational challenges, including minor technology glitches, schedule changes linked to the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system and the implementation of updated crew rostering rules (Flight Duty Time Limitations) had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated,” IndiGo said in a statement.

Flight duty time limitation, or FDTL norms, cap the number of hours a crew member can be on duty. It limits flying to eight hours a day, 35 hours a week, 125 hours a month and 1,000 hours a year. The rules also specify mandatory rest periods, requiring that every crew member receive downtime amounting to twice the duration of their flight time, with a minimum of 10 hours of rest within any 24-hour window.

This was brought in by the DGCA to ensure pilots and cabin crew get sufficient rest and are not pushed into fatigue that could compromise safety. “To contain the disruption and restore stability, we have initiated calibrated adjustments to our schedules. These measures will remain in place for the next 48 hours and will allow us to normalize our operations and progressively recover our punctuality across the network. Our teams are working around the clock to ease customer discomfort and ensure operations stabilize as quickly as possible,” the IndiGo statement said.

“Furthermore, the affected customers are being offered alternate travel arrangements to reach their destinations or refunds, as applicable. We request customers to check the latest flight status at before heading to the airport. We deeply regret the inconvenience caused and remain fully committed to minimizing disruption and supporting our customers through this period,” it added.

IndiGo arrivals from Visakhapatnam, Goa, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Madurai, Hubli, Bhopal and Bhubaneswar to Hyderabad were canceled including outbound flights to Delhi, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Hubli and Bhopal. Services connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa, Kolkata and Lucknow were among those affected.

Angry passengers took to social media platform X to detail their experiences. One traveler waiting in Hyderabad wrote, “I have been stranded since 3 am and have missed an important meeting.” Another passenger posted, “I am at Hyderabad airport waiting for my Udaipur flight. It was first delayed to 1.55 PM, then 2.55 PM, and now 4.35 PM. Is this a joke? I was informed only three minutes before entering the airport.”

At Delhi Airport, a slowdown linked to the Amadeus system, used by airlines for check-ins, reservations and departure control, compounded the problems. The glitch led to longer queues and slower processing, further weighing down operations already hit by manpower shortages. In order to restore normalcy the airline said it was making adjustments to its schedules over the next 48 hours.