India’s largest airline IndiGo’s operations crumbled as pilot-rostering issues continued to force large scale flight cancellations — over 400 on Friday — and many passengers have been stranded for as long as three days at airports.
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.
The IndiGo flight disruptions, primarily caused by shortage of pilots that was not anticipated due to planning deficiencies, has entered the fourth day and the authorities are keeping a close watch on the situation.
In a reflection of the harrowing time passengers faced, a PTI staffer booked an IndiGo flight from Delhi to Mumbai which was scheduled to take off at 8.30 pm on Thursday. She had paid Rs 25,000 for the ticket.
She was stranded at the airport for the whole night with the airline repeatedly rescheduling the flight and announcing the cancellation only on Friday early morning. And her ordeal did not end there.
The staffer could not find her checked-in baggage as piles of suitcases and travel bags lay on the airport floor.
“I was looking for my checked-in baggage but could not find it. I have filled up the requisite forms and the airline has informed me that they will deliver the baggage at the residential address,” the staffer said.
Another staffer said a flight to Delhi, which was scheduled to take off at 5.30 pm on Thursday, took off only at around 2 am on Friday after a lot of protests by passengers.
A video shot by the PTI staffer at the Delhi airport showed a large number of passengers waiting for flight updates and many passengers were huddled in groups at the airport.
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.
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.