Summary:
- India’s IndiGo airline, hit by pilot shortages, cancelled hundreds of flights.
- The airline says operations will return to normal only by 10 February.
- IndiGo received a waiver from new pilot rest rules, will combine leave with weekly rest.
INDIA’S TRAVEL DISRUPTION worsened after IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, cancelled hundreds of flights on Friday following three days of network-wide delays. The carrier, which holds a 60 percent market share in India and operates more than 2,000 daily flights, has faced pilot shortages after failing to adapt to new crew-rostering rules.
December is a peak travel month in India, with school holidays and the wedding season underway. Thousands of passengers are stranded across India, with all IndiGo flights from Delhi cancelled, according to the BBC.
IndiGo said operations will return to normal only by Feb. 10 and has sought temporary relief from the new rules requiring more rest hours and limiting night duty, BBC reported. The airline said it will reduce flight operations from Dec. 8 to limit disruptions. Airports in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities have advised passengers to check flight status before traveling.
The Indian government said it is monitoring the situation and the aviation minister expressed displeasure with how the airline handled it. In July, India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau reported that a fuel supply cut caused the June 12 Air India crash in Ahmedabad, killing 246 people.
In a separate statement, India’s aviation regulator said the disruptions were due mainly to misjudgment and planning gaps in implementing the new flight-duty time rules. The regulator directed IndiGo to submit a plan on crew recruitment, training, roster changes, safety-risk assessments and other mitigation measures with immediate effect.
Local media reported that IndiGo has received a waiver from the new pilot rest rules and that the ban on combining pilot leave with weekly rest has been eased to stabilise operations. But the airline has drawn criticism from the Airline Pilots Association of India, which said any relief on duty timings undermines the intent of the new regulations and compromises passenger safety. Under the new rules, pilots receive more rest and one change requires two night-time landings per week, down from six under the old rules.
The airline said it will waive all cancellation and reschedule requests for travel from Dec. 5 to 15 and is arranging hotel rooms and food for affected passengers. Meanwhile, several passengers have taken to social media, complaining about outdated information and being stranded at the airport without food.
IndiGo’s parent company, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., runs over 2,200 daily flights with more than 400 aircraft flying to domestic and international destinations. In fiscal year 2025, IndiGo carried around 120 million passengers. In April, InterGlobe and Accor launched a hospitality platform targeting 300 Accor‑branded hotels in India by 2030.
