New Delhi: The country’s largest airline IndiGo cancelled more than 400 domestic and international flights, and services were delayed at various airports as operational disruptions impacting travel plans of hundreds of passengers.
Airports witnessed chaotic scenes as some IndiGo flights faced delays of more than 12 hours, many passengers staged protests and some complained of misplaced baggage.
Many frustrated passengers were heard shouting and demanding an explanation for the inordinate flight delays and some of them said they boarded a flight and later they had to deboard as the service was cancelled.
“What is the reason for the flight delays? We need to know the reason,” a passenger said. Some passengers also claimed airfares for flights on Mumbai-Delhi route had soared to around Rs 60,000 on Thursday.
The flight disruptions are linked to IndiGo’s ongoing compliance adjustments under new DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) safety directives, coupled with crew availability issues, which have led to flight delays and cancellations at multiple airports nationwide this week.
IndiGo, which generally operates around 2,300 flights daily with a fleet of over 400 planes, has seen its punctuality plummet with the operational disruptions that are expected to continue for many more days.
The airline’s On Time Performance (OTP) plunged to 19.7 per cent on Wednesday compared to 35 per cent on Tuesday.
On Thursday, IndiGo informed aviation watchdog DGCA that operations are expected to be fully stabilised by February 10, 2026, and sought temporary relaxations in flight duty norms.
Acknowledging that the flight disruptions happening for the past few days are primarily due to misjudgment and planning gaps in implementing the second phase of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms, IndiGo also informed the regulator that there will be more cancellations till December 8 and from that day, there will also be a reduction in services.
At a high-level meeting to review the situation, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu expressed his displeasure over the way IndiGo has handled the revised FDTL implementation despite having ample time.
