IndiGo meltdown enters day four: Why the airline giant has cancelled hundreds of flights

For a fourth straight day, frustration rippled as IndiGo’s delays and cancellations piled up faster than the airline could offer any explanations.

Passengers stranded across cities have been juggling rebookings, long queues, and frayed tempers, while airport staff are left absorbing the blowback. Just last Friday, over 400 flights were reportedly cancelled.

IndiGo has apologised to customers and stakeholders, assuring that it “remains focused on streamlining its operations at the earliest.”

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Over the past week, the airline has rolled out a string of explanations. First, it blamed “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 (FDTL) [which] had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated.”

IndiGo admits 'misjudgement' as pilot shortage, new fatigue rules cause flight chaos

The Hindu reported that at the heart of the chaos lies a widening gap between IndiGo’s pilot availability and its expanding winter schedule. The November 1 rollout of the remaining Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) provisions, stricter rules intended to combat pilot fatigue, has sharply constrained how the airline can deploy its cockpit crew. These include limits on night-time flying and extended weekly rest hours.

The Hindu had pointed out that the pilots were fighting long-standing grievances, non-pay increments despite 7000 crore profits, fatigue and what appeared to them as the airline manipulating the definition of the new norms on pilots duty hours to its benefit.

By Thursday, meeting Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu and DGCA chief Faiz Kidwai, Indigo’s top officials admitted “misjudgement and planning gaps” in crew rostering.

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CEO Pieter Elbers followed up with a letter to employees, acknowledging that “given the size, scale and complexity of our network, these disruptions grow large immediately and require interventions on multiple levels.”

So when will the turbulence end?

IndiGo has told the government it will curtail flights from December 8, meaning delays and cancellations will continue for at least “the next two to three days.”