When it comes to a pretty slick operation and on-time performance, no one usually beats IndiGo in India. The airline has built its reputation on on-time performance, which has been second to none. It even cheekily refers to IST as “IndiGo Standard Time” instead of “India Standard Time” in its marketing communications. However, the airline, which essentially runs a clean operation, has been experiencing significant trouble over the past couple of days. The airline’s on-time performance has dipped.
IndiGo’s on-time performance takes a hit
IndiGo’s on-time performance has taken a hit over the past couple of days, with the airline reporting just 35% on-time departures from the six key cities, which are major hubs, and the input to On Time Performance for all airlines in India: Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune. On December 2, 2025, as per the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, IndiGo reported just a 35% on-time performance across these centres.
On November 3, 2025, it was reported that about 200 IndiGo flights had been cancelled through the afternoon, including those from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. Delhi reported 38 cancellations, Mumbai 32, Bengaluru 40, and Hyderabad 20 through the afternoon. This is terrible by any standard, when you see even the slackers getting an on-time performance in the 70% range or above. IndiGo operates over 2,200 flights daily, and on December 2, 2025, over 1,400 flights departed with delays for IndiGo, and about 130 were cancelled. This has caused crowding at airports and baggage belts as things have choked up. This is coming from an airline that had the best on-time performance in October 2025.
Only facing a 4-hour delay on @IndiGo6E on the DEL- CHD sector today, so no biggie. Staff attitude though is as if they’re doing you a effing favour by letting you fly pic.twitter.com/dXoqqgCDWH
— Ishan Raghava (@iraghava) December 3, 2025
The issues are coming to light as the first month of the full implementation of the new FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) guidelines takes effect. These new FDTL guidelines prescribed a different, more humane way to roster crew so that they could get enough rest and perform their duties effectively. Although some pilots are still unhappy with these roster algorithms, they are a step up from the earlier version. It is primarily believed that the delays have been caused by the unavailability of pilots due to the new rostering norms, as airlines will need more pilots to operate the same number of flights, and these were perhaps not scaled up accordingly. In 2019 as well, IndiGo had to cancel about 2% of its flights due to a pilot shortage.
How will this impact in the days ahead?
IndiGo’s delays will no doubt seep across the network. Delayed departures will cause delays for subsequent flights and missed connections, now that IndiGo is more of a network carrier than a point-to-point carrier, as it was in its initial days. The airline will hence have to put its heads together and plan for a reset shortly, and either scale down flights or step up pilot availability as we head into fog season, where even standby pilots will be needed as bench strength.
IndiGo, at about 6 PM IST confirmed that it will do a network wide reset over the next 48 hours, and reduce the schedules to normalise operations. This might mean you will be reaccomodated on another flight, one that you were not originally booked on.
What does IndiGo say?
IndiGo stated to the press, which reads as follows,
We have had several unavoidable flight delays and some cancellations in the past few days due to various reasons, including technology issues, airport congestion, and operational requirements.
Our teams are working diligently to ensure that operations normalise as soon as possible. Furthermore, we are offering alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers, as applicable. We regret the inconvenience caused to our valued customers due to these disruptions.
We request customers to check the latest flight status at https://www.goindigo.in/check-flight-status.html before heading to the airport, to help us minimise inconvenience.
In a second statement released around 6 PM IST, IndiGo accepted the real issue at hand.
We acknowledge that IndiGo’s operations have been significantly disrupted across the network for the past two days, and we sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused.
A multitude of unforeseen operational challenges including minor technology glitches, schedule changes linked to the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system and the implementation of updated crew rostering rules (Flight Duty Time Limitations) had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated.
To contain the disruption and restore stability, we have initiated calibrated adjustments to our schedules. These measures will remain in place for the next 48 hours and will allow us to normalize our operations and progressively recover our punctuality across the network. Our teams are working around the clock to ease customer discomfort and ensure operations stabilize as quickly as possible. Furthermore, the affected customers are being offered alternate travel arrangements to reach their destinations or refunds, as applicable.
Bottomline
There have been delays networkwide, causing the airline to operate only 35% of its flights on time on November 2, 2025. The airline is affected by the new FDTL regulations, which require more rest time for the crew, although the airline itself has negated this and said there have been a bunch of factors affecting its performance. IndiGo will reset the network via cancellations and operate a reduced schedule over the next 2 days to make this problem go away and recover from it.
Have you flown IndiGo over the past couple of days and witnessed any impact? Do share
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