The story of December 2025 so far has been the widespread cancellation of flights by IndiGo due to a lack of pilots to operate its planes. The airline promised to fix the situation in 48 hours on the evening of December 3, 2025, but it had a 20% on-time departure performance for December 3, 2025. December 4 numbers haven’t been reported yet, but the airline won’t have gotten much better based on what’s being heard on social media. Over 250 flights are rumoured to be cancelled and many are delayed for hours. The airline got a dressing down from the Indian aviation regulator and was called in to explain itself.
DGCA grants time till February 10 to IndiGo
In a meeting with its regulator, IndiGo explained that it had “misjudged” the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), which were changed in November 2025 to provide more rest to pilots, incorrectly. The airline said it would begin reducing flight operations and resolve the situation by February 10, 2026. However, in the immediate term (next day or two), the airline will see more cancellations as a part of IndiGo’s efforts to stabilise the schedules.
As India’s largest domestic airline, operating almost two-thirds of flights, the airline also sought exemptions from the nighttime-related changes in the FDTL until February 10, 2026. The airline knew about these changes for over a year and a half and seemed to have made light of them so far. Per IndiGo to DGCA, the new FDTL rules require 2,422 captains and 2,153 first officers to operate its Airbus A320 fleet. But it currently has 2,357 captains and 2,194 first officers operating the A320. It is being aired on social media that the airline has also slowed the upgrade of first officers to commanders, and the cadet programme recruits have long-dated offers from the airline to join them.
IndiGo Managers meeting Civil Aviation Minister of India (Source: X/@RamMNK)
Under the new FDTL rules, the weekly rest period for pilots has been increased to 48 hours from 36, and night landings have been limited to two from six earlier. The new norms also extended the definition of night hours and capped consecutive night duties to just two days a week, imposing additional constraints on IndiGo’s operations, as the airline operates a significant number of red-eye flights. The new norms were implemented in two phases, from July 1 to November 1.
The primary reason for this disruption is crew shortages following the new FDTL rules. IndiGo informed the DGCA that the disruptions “arose primarily from misjudgement and planning gaps in implementing” the second phase of the new FDTL rules, and that the airline accepted that the actual crew requirement for the new rules exceeded what it had anticipated.
The DGCA directed IndiGo to submit a mitigation plan for current disruptions, listing the immediate steps to stabilise operations and ensure a progressive reduction in cancellations. The airline will also have to submit a detailed roadmap covering projected crew recruitment vis-à-vis induction of aircraft, which DGCA shall review.
Bottomline
IndiGo acknowledged that they made a mistake and requested time to fix it. And they got away with it. The airline has about 60 days to get its act together and report back to the DGCA. However, the passengers continue to expect and experience pain on the airline so far, given that the airline has openly said they will have to cancel flights over the next 2-3 days to make it right.
What do you think should be the right way of handling this for the customers of IndiGo?
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