Flight Meltdown at IndiGo: Delhi, Mumbai passengers hit hard—1,000+ flights cancelled in 36 hours

IndiGo Flight Chaos: IndiGo Flight Chaos: IndiGo’s growing dominance in the skies is raising questions about a potential monopoly in India’s aviation sector. The airline is in trouble, with daily cancellations reaching 170-200 flights. The private sector airline's operations have faced massive disruptions, with cancellations of more than 600 flights on Friday, taking total cancellations to over 1,000 in 36 hours. The turmoil has severely hit the carrier’s on-time performance, which plunged to 8.5 per cent on Thursday, down from 19.7 per cent on Wednesday.

Delhi Airport has been the worst affected, with all IndiGo flights from the capital cancelled until midnight, though services of other airlines remain unaffected. The impact is significant, with 265 departing flights from Delhi alone disrupted. Mumbai, too, has gone without IndiGo flights until 6 pm.

On December 5, several airports saw major operational disruptions:

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• Delhi: 135 cancelled departures, 90 cancelled arrivals

• Mumbai: 53 cancelled departures, 51 cancelled arrivals

• Bengaluru: 52 cancelled arrivals, 50 cancelled departures

• Pune: 32 cancellations

• Hyderabad: 49 cancelled departures, 43 cancelled arrivals

• Srinagar: 10 of 18 flights cancelled

These cancellations have left thousands of passengers stranded and angry. For many, the ordeal feels endless -- a crisis that simply refuses to settle down.

Airfare Stock: Delhi-Mumbai flight ticket fares soar

Airfares on some of the busiest domestic routes have surged significantly. Here are some key developments:

• One-way Delhi-Mumbai fares for Dec 5 crossed Rs 65,000 in several cases
• Fares for December 6 jumped nearly 10 times the normal levels
• Last-minute bookings now range between Rs 19,000 and Rs 70,000
• The lowest fare slabs on IndiGo and Air India breach Rs 18,000-25,000 levels (on normal days, the same routes cost Rs 4,000-8,000)

What IndiGo says

“We confirm that all IndiGo domestic flights departing from Delhi Airport (DEL) on Dec 5, 2025 stand cancelled till 11:59PM… We understand the immense inconvenience and distress this has caused and sincerely regret the inconvenience," an IndiGo spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said that the airline is offering refreshments, alternative flight options, hotel stays, help with baggage retrieval and full refunds for those affected.

Passengers have been asked to contact the ground team at Delhi Airport or use the refund portal.

Political and regulatory pressure

Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the government over the widespread disruptions, calling it a crisis stemming from a “monopoly model”. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi moved a notice in the Rajya Sabha seeking a formal statement from Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu.

She noted that delays of up to seven hours and over 70 cancellations across major airports had left thousands stranded and disrupted both domestic and international operations.

FDTL relief controversy deepens

IndiGo has requested temporary relief from certain Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules for its A320 fleet until February 10, 2026. The DGCA expects normal operations to be restored by then.

A DGCA review cited three key reasons behind the meltdown:

• Challenges in implementing Phase 2 of revised FDTL norms

• Crew-planning gaps

• Winter-season operational constraints

What has added to public anger is the growing perception that airlines used passengers as leverage to push for temporary relaxation of FDTL rules -- a charge that has taken shape online, especially as irked flyers narrate how their plans were upended.

The new fatigue-management rules, introduced following court directions, were rolled out in two phases on July 1 and November 1, 2025.