Lakhs of air passengers across India were left stranded as the country’s largest airline, IndiGo, faced massive flight delays and cancellations over the past week, largely due to an acute pilot shortage. On Wednesday alone, over 200 flights were cancelled, with delays stretching up to 10 hours at several airports.
Government data revealed that on December 2, IndiGo’s on-time performance plunged to just 35 percent, the lowest among all Indian airlines. With the carrier flying nearly a million passengers every three days, the scale of disruption affected lakhs of travellers.
The public outcry on social media prompted swift action from the aviation regulator. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has summoned IndiGo’s top management to explain the “unprecedented disruptions” and submit a recovery plan during the ongoing peak travel season.
In November, IndiGo cancelled 1,232 flights, nearly 62 percent of which were due to crew constraints. The situation worsened after stricter flight duty time norms were introduced to curb pilot fatigue.
Cancellations were reported across major hubs, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, further compounded by a brief global check-in software outage.
IndiGo has now announced calibrated flight cuts, while the DGCA continues to monitor the situation closely to minimise passenger inconvenience.
