Air journey throughout India has been in chaos previously week after the nation’s largest airline, IndiGo, cancelled greater than 2,000 flights beginning on Friday, stranding hundreds of passengers at airports throughout the nation.
The airline, which operates about 2,200 flights a day, has been going through pilot shortages after it didn’t adapt to the brand new pilot relaxation and responsibility guidelines launched by the federal government early final 12 months.
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Mass cancellations of flights amid the busy journey season have induced a public outcry, forcing the federal government to intervene. The airline has been granted exemptions from the brand new guidelines, however the disruption has continued, with greater than 600 flights cancelled on Sunday.
The airline says operations shall be again to regular by December 10-15. The disaster is the largest blow to the provider in its 20-year operation.
What’s behind the disaster, and what’s the authorities doing to handle it?
What we all know to this point
Beginning on December 2, IndiGo flights had been delayed and later cancelled as a result of obvious pilot shortages. Flight disruptions had been recorded in Mumbai, Hyderabad and different cities.
On Friday, at the least 1,000 flights had been cancelled in one of many worst aviation crises in India.
Greater than 600 flights had been cancelled on Sunday, in line with the Indian media, regardless of the federal government providing exemptions to the non-public provider. At the very least 385 flights had been cancelled on Saturday, the fifth day of the disaster.
Hundreds of passengers have been stranded at airports throughout the nation because of the air disruption.
The Reuters information company reported, quoting airport sources, that IndiGo cancelled 124 flights in Bengaluru, 109 in Mumbai, 86 in New Delhi and 66 in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Why did the brand new flight laws result in flight cancellations?
Early final 12 months, the federal government introduced new flight laws – Flight Obligation Time Limitations or FDTL – to enhance the working hours of the Indian airways’ pilots. Nonetheless, when the November 1 deadline arrived, IndiGo airline was not ready. In consequence, it was first pressured to delay and later cancel flights, as there weren’t sufficient pilots accessible.
FDTL was lastly applied in two phases this 12 months, with the second section coming into impact on November 1. The foundations embody:
- Growing pilots’ obligatory weekly relaxation interval from 36 to 48 hours. A pilot’s private depart request, nonetheless, can’t be included underneath the obligatory relaxation interval.
- Capping pilots’ flying hours that proceed into the night time to 10 hours.
- Capping the weekly variety of landings a pilot could make between midnight and early morning to 2.
- Submitting quarterly pilots’ fatigue stories to India’s aviation regulator – the Directorate Normal of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Aviation consultants and pilot unions have stated IndiGo has been the toughest hit as a result of negligence and an absence of planning for the brand new guidelines.
“Regardless of the two-year preparatory window earlier than full FDTL implementation, the airline inexplicably adopted a hiring freeze, entered non-poaching preparations, maintained a pilot pay freeze by means of cartel-like behaviour, and demonstrated different short-sighted planning practices,” the Federation of Indian Pilots advised the Press Belief of India information company on December 4.
Former AirAsia CFO Vijay Gopalan blamed IndiGo’s “very very lackadaisical, nonchalant angle” in adapting to the brand new guidelines as a cause for the disaster.
What steps has the federal government taken to handle the disaster?
The federal government has ordered a high-level inquiry to find out the explanations and accountability for flight disruptions.
Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu blamed IndiGo for “mismanagement relating to their crew”, including that different airways had been ready for the modifications.
The federal government on Friday introduced exemptions from the brand new guidelines for the provider and supplied stranded passengers with practice tickets to proceed their journey.
IndiGo has been exempted till February 10 from the requirement to cap the weekly variety of landings for a pilot between midnight and early morning. It has additionally been exempted from the pilots’ flight responsibility time.
The Airline Pilots Affiliation of India has, nonetheless, protested in opposition to the exemptions, saying the principles “exist solely to safeguard human life”.
On Saturday, India’s aviation watchdog, the DGCA, despatched a letter to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers, warning him of regulatory motion amid flight cancellations.
“You may have failed in your responsibility to make sure well timed preparations for conduct of dependable operations,” Reuters reported, quoting DGCA official Ravinder Singh Jamwal.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday additionally introduced capping of airfares to manage the surge in ticket costs as a result of a breakdown in IndiGo’s flight companies.
When will the IndiGo operations return to regular?
Acknowledging its failure to adapt to the brand new guidelines, IndiGo has apologised for the intense “operational disaster”. It attributed the mass cancellations to “misjudgement and planning gaps”.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers stated in a video assertion on Friday that it might “take a while” for the flight operations to get again to regular.
“Given the scale, scale, and complexity of our operations, it’ll take a while to return to a full regular scenario, which we anticipate between 10 and 15 December,” he stated within the video.
In his message, Elbers introduced that the airline has three traces of motion to handle the disaster, which embody buyer assist measures to successfully talk cancellations and refunds, aligning with the DGCA’s laws.
The airline on Sunday afternoon stated it’s on observe to function greater than 1,650 flights, up from 1,500 on Saturday. It added that 137 out of 138 locations are in operation. Full waiver on cancellations and reschedule requests for bookings till December 15 shall be given, it stated.
Message from Pieter Elbers, CEO, IndiGo. pic.twitter.com/bXFdqoB0Q2
— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) December 5, 2025
How are different main Indian airways managing?
Different Indian carriers, together with Air India and Akasa Air, proceed with their operations amid the chaos.
In accordance with Indian media stories, Mumbai-based low-cost provider Akasa Air, targeted on recruiting new pilots, which helped it adapt to the brand new FDTL norms.
A report by Indian enterprise portal Cash Management famous that Tata-owned Air India additionally boosted flight crew for home flights, serving to it higher deal with the brand new guidelines.
Nonetheless, worldwide flights by Air India and its sister firm, funds provider Air India Specific, have lowered worldwide flight operations to undertake extra security checks after a deadly June plane crash that killed 241 individuals in Gujarat state.
Has the disaster impacted airfare?
Sure. With IndiGo dominating the Indian aviation market, different airways have hiked costs on many routes, particularly return flights from metro cities New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
“That wasn’t pricing. It was profiteering. When methods collapse, the market turns into a vulture,” posted an X person after ticket costs soared.
In accordance with Indian media stories, the Civil Aviation Ministry has warned airways that it has “taken a severe be aware of unusually excessive airfares being charged by sure airways throughout the ongoing disruption” and has in flip “invoked its regulatory powers to make sure truthful and affordable fares throughout all affected routes.”
As per a Reuters report, the federal government has stated flight journeys between 1,000km and 1,500km (620-930 miles) must be capped at 15,000 rupees ($167).
Airfares had been beforehand capped in India in Could 2020, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, when the subcontinent ordered lockdowns and lowered flight operations. According to a research printed final November by international commerce affiliation Airports Council Worldwide (ACI), India, nonetheless, noticed a 43 p.c rise in home fares within the first half of 2024 in contrast with 2019.
To date, Air India and Air India Specific, which maintain 26 p.c of the market share, have addressed the scenario and clarified that “financial system class airfares on continuous home flights have been proactively capped to forestall the standard demand-and-supply mechanism being utilized by income administration methods”.
The 2 airways added that they’re looking for so as to add capability to assist travellers and their baggage attain their closing locations effectively.
