Why IndiGo Is Cancelling Hundreds of Flights, India’s Biggest Airline Faces Major Operational Crisis

In early December 2025, IndiGo, India’s largest domestic airline, cancelled thousands of flights, plunging the country’s aviation system into one of its worst crises in years and leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded.

The disruptions stem primarily from a severe shortage of legally available cockpit crew, triggered by newly enforced regulatory rules governing pilot rest and duty periods.

The regulatory framework, introduced in mid-2024 but fully implemented recently, mandates extended rest times, stricter limits on night landings, and tighter crew-scheduling rules.

Though all carriers were aware of the changes, IndiGo’s limited staffing model proved unsustainable under the new norms. As a result, it was unable to assign certified crews for many scheduled flights, forcing widespread cancellations.

Compounding the problem were high travel demand during the peak season, technical and scheduling issues, and in some cases, weather or airport congestion.

These factors together overwhelmed IndiGo’s operations. On some days during the crisis, more than 500 flights were cancelled across major hubs, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai, with cumulative cancellations reaching into the thousands within a single week.

The fallout has been massive: passengers faced long waits at airports, hurried rescheduling or refund processes, lost baggage, and major travel disruptions. The airline has committed to processing refunds and rescheduling impacted bookings, and has formed a crisis-management group to stabilise operations.

Regulators have issued show-cause notices to the airline’s leadership and indicated that strict action may follow. Meanwhile, experts warn that the disruption highlights a structural vulnerability in India’s aviation sector, where a few large carriers dominate and may pose systemic risk when internal planning fails.

The crisis has damaged IndiGo’s previously strong reputation for punctuality and reliability, and has sparked calls for deeper regulatory reform, increased competition in the domestic airline market, and better contingency planning for crew and fleet management to avoid future meltdowns.

Source: Al Jazeera; Reuters; The Independent; The Federal