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Indigo, the largest airline in India, is going through a big crisis. More than 1000 flights were cancelled or delayed, leaving thousands of passengers stranded across airports nationwide. The crisis, largely triggered by an unexpected pilot shortage under new duty-time rules, has forced the airline into emergency schedule cuts and triggered a regulatory intervention.
It is the largest airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.2% domestic market share as of August 2025. It is the second largest Asian airline, and one of the largest in the world in terms of passengers carried, with more than 31.9 million passengers carried in the fourth quarter of 2025. As of November 2025, IndiGo operates over 2,700 daily flights to 137 destinations – 94 domestic and 43 international.
The crisis is one of the worst crises in the decade. Several videos of airports are going viral on social media. Passengers across multiple airports expressed anger and helplessness as IndiGo’s massive delays and cancellations left thousands stranded with little clarity or assistance. Many said there was no proper communication, food, or water as they waited for hours. Nearly 1,000 flights have been cancelled over the past few days.
The airline issued a detailed public apology on Friday, acknowledging the scale of the crisis. In its statement, IndiGo said, “We do deeply apologize and understand how difficult the past few days have been for many of you. While this will not get resolved overnight, we assure you that we will do everything in our capacity to help you in the meantime and to bring our operations back to normal at the earliest.”
What is the reason for the Indigo Crisis?
As per reports and experts, the main reason of Indigo crisis is the mismanagement of Staff. The most important reason is the implementation of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) – new crew rest and duty-hour rules designed to prevent pilot fatigue. These new rules were introduced in January 2024. According to these rules, 48 hours of weekly rest should be provided for crew. Earlier the duration was 36 hours. The new rules allow only two night landing per week per pilot and there is a cap of 8 flying hours during night operations. [Download Rules PDF]
These restrictions forced a large number of IndiGo’s pilots into compulsory rest while the airlines was gearing up to host maximum passengers in winter season. IndiGo operates over 2,200 flights a day – nearly double Air India. A tiny lapse in planning becomes an enormous meltdown: Even a 10% disruption means 200–400 flights affected and thousands stranded.
As per experts, Indigo did not prepare for future situation. The pilots were less in number but Indigo kept on booking flights. The mis-management kept on increasing and led to crisis. The association of pilots said that Indigo did not hire adequate pilots and criticised DGCA for approving winter flights without verifying pilot availability under the new norms.
Some aviation experts even suspect the disruptions could be a pressure tactic to secure relaxations in FDTL rules. As per experts, some airlines don’t want to give much rest to their pilots as it will increase costs for them. Some say that Indigo did this intentionally to put pressure on Government to roll back the new rules. The timing of this incident also raises a big suspicion as this incident happened during the visit of Russian President to India.
The Government of India is investigating the issue and more details will be released soon.
Download DGCA Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) Rules 2025
