IndiGo Crisis: Why Is India’s Largest Airline Canceling Hundreds of Flights?
India has experienced the biggest airline IndiGo which has been experiencing a significant crisis in its operation, this has caused hundreds of flights to be cancelled and delayed around the country.
Somya
December 09, 2025
Updated 11:19 pm
Last minute changes, queues, and confusion are some of the ills passengers are grappling with. This has caused a sudden break, and the question has been brought up:
What is the reason why IndiGo is canceling such flights?
The issue is associated with an interplay between crew issues, new DGCA regulations, Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), and operational difficulties. The following is a simple and straightforward analysis of the whole scenario.
Chronology of Events: December 2 – December 8
A distinct timeline allows seeing the way the crisis was developing:
December 2, 2025
First signs of trouble came when several flights of IndiGo began to be delayed. Complaints start being piled up via social media.
December 3 2025
Delays increase further. Potential pilot fatigue and shortage of crew is hinted at by aviation experts.
December 4 2025
A number of metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad record the schedule disruption of IndiGo.
Initial statistics indicate that there are more than 80 cancellations within a day.
December 5 2025
The issue takes a national dimension. There are delays and missed connecting flights by passengers overnight.
December 6 2025
Pilots are reported to decline the extended hours of duty because of fatigue reasons and strict FDTL standards.
December 7 2025
DGCA tries to elicit clarification in detail, out of IndiGo, and starts supervising their crew rostering system.
December 8 2025
IndiGo admits to massive cancellations and cautions that this will not be settled any time soon.
What Triggered the IndiGo Crisis?
1. Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) Pressure
The FDTL norms, that stipulate the number of hours worked by a pilot or cabin crew member within a day, is one of the largest causes of disruption.
The crews of IndiGo were working at the edge of the line because of increasing passenger demand in travelling, and a tight-knifed winter schedule.
The safety factor also caused many pilots to reject long hours which caused instant shortages.
2. Sudden Schedule Expansion
Recently, IndiGo has increased flights on a number of domestic and international routes.
However, the planning of crews was not in step with the fast growth resulting in an imbalance between the available crew and flights.
3. Crew Shortage and Fatigue
Insiders in the industry report that IndiGo has been experiencing a lack of pilots and cabin crew months before.
Pilot fatigue compelled most to go sick and this created a domino effect of cancellations.
4. DGCA’s New Rule on Crew Rest
New guidelines were provided by the DGCA to enhance safety of the pilots and they included:
Increased rest hours
More restrictions in night shifts
Reduced maximum flying hour restrictions
These rules are effective to increase safety but airlines require time to adjust schedules of their crew. The transition to IndiGo was not that easy.
5. Winter Fog Worsening the Crisis
Delhi and North India are heavily muggy during the winter season.
As visibility reduces, the runways have lower capacity hence flight stacking, delays and cancellations occur- this has the most effect on IndiGo, because of its huge network.
Impact on Passengers
IndiGo crisis has left thousands of flyers stranded through sheer inconvenience:
1. Last-Minute Cancellations
Most of the passengers came to airports only to find out that the flight had been cancelled.
2. Long Waiting Hours
The delays were even 6-10 hours.
3. Financial Losses
Lost hotel reservations, transfers, business meetings and medical appointments were some of the issues that caused financial pressure.
4. Rebooking Struggle
Rebooking was very costly due to the high fares in other airlines.
5. Baggage Mishandling Issues
Crowded airports were recorded to have more baggage delays.
Regulatory Response and Challenges
DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has intervened with:
Close inspection of the crew list of IndiGo.
Request of daily cancellation reports.
Checking compliance with pilot rest.
Caution on over scheduling.
Nevertheless, the most difficult situation is the need to weigh between safety regulations on the one hand, and the strong demand of flights during peak season on the other hand.
The DGCA explained that no relaxation of the fatigue norms of pilots will occur since flight safety can be compromised by pilot fatigue.
Will the Situation Improve Soon?
Aviation analysts predict the stabilization of the situation, though not in the short term.
Why recovery may take time:
The number of flights that IndiGo is operating is more than2,000 per day.
Even the temporary shortage of the crews throws all the networks.
Some IndiGo operations are still being affected by winter weather.
More days are taken to make corrections to the situation.
It is recommended that passengers should check the status of flights before going to the airport and use SMS alerts.
Conclusion
The IndiGo crisis can be attributed to a series of factors-crew burnout, new FDTL regulations, inadequate roster scheduling, winter weather and regulatory stress.
Although the first priority is safety, the airline should enhance its planning and staffing to prevent such disruptions in the future.
Until all of that is totally normalized, passengers are advised to keep up to date, and travel with additional buffer time.
Ans- This is because of crew shortages, pilot fatigue, new DGCA rest regulations, winter fog delays and operational mismanagement.
Q-2. What are FDTL norms in aviation?
Ans- Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) refers to regulations that establish the maximum length of time that pilots and cabin crew may work and the amount of rest that they should take to prevent accidents.
Q-3. How many flights were canceled during the IndiGo crisis?
Ans- Between December 2 and December 8, hundreds of flights were canceled and additional delays in major cities were experienced.
Q-4. What should passengers do if their IndiGo flight gets canceled?
Ans- Ask about the status of the check online, rebook or get refunds, and reach out to the customer care.
Q-5. When will IndiGo operations return to normal?
Ans- The airline is making efforts to correct rosters, and it may take several days before it is fully normalized, as winter weather and staffing issues are involved.