What Happened To IndiGo? Why Mass Flight Cancellation?

For the past few days, low-cost flight carrier IndiGo has been delaying and cancelling several flights. The situation turned worse on Wednesday with more than 200 flights being cancelled and many others delayed, and the disruptions spilled into Thursday too.

Passengers became frustrated as scores of them were forced to wait for hours and found arguing with the ground staff over the delay. Reports said that more than 85 flights were cancelled in Mumbai, 40 in Hyderabad and 42 in Bengaluru.

The cancellation and delay is mainly due to shortage of the cabin crew and pilots, which became more prominent after the DGCA’s stricter norms implemented from November 1. The various airlines sought postponement in implementation of the rules as they would need more staff. Recruiting and training the new employees would require more time.

When the civil aviation ministry asked the IndiGo airline for an explanation over the cancellation and delay of flights, it cited pilot shortage and winter-schedule pressures. Further, it also sought partial relaxation in the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms to stabilize norms.

The FDTL rules stressed on rest requirements and limiting duty hours, which added to the strain on the airline. In the letter submitted to the DGCA explaining about the reasons behind the large scale paralysing of the flight schedules, IndiGo promised of corrective action, restoration of normalized and stable operations by Feb. 10, 2026.

It also told the DGCA that more cancellations were expected in the next 2-3 days, as part of the schedule stabilization. From December 8, IndiGo will reduce flight operations to minimize disruption while restoring order.