Over 1,000 IndiGo flights cancelled in 3 days, several delayed amid operational chaos
IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, has now cancelled more than 1,000 flights since Tuesday, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded.
More than 1,000 IndiGo flights have been cancelled since Tuesday as chaos continues at several airports across India while the operational disruptions continue to haunt the airline. On Friday, visuals surfaced on social media of queues outside IndiGo counters at several airports as passengers complained of disruptions to their flights.
At Delhi's IGI airport, a total of 135 IndiGo departures and 90 arrivals were cancelled on Friday, airport officials told HT. Meanwhile, over 100 flights were cancelled at Bengaluru airport and 92 others at Hyderabad airport.
On Thursday alone, more than 400 flights were cancelled as the airline informed the aviation regulators that “misjudgment and planning gaps” led to the massive disruption. Around 150 flights were cancelled at Delhi airport on Thursday, 118 at Mumbai, 99 at Bengaluru and 79 at Hyderabad, airport officials in these cities told HT. This came after at least 150 cancellations on Wednesday and many more on Tuesday.
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IndiGo flight disruptions
The country’s largest airline has now cancelled more than 800 flights since Tuesday, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded as the carrier issued an apology for the second time in two days on Thursday. “IndiGo teams are working diligently and making all efforts with the support of MOCA, DGCA, BCAS, AAI and airport operators to reduce the cascading impact of these delays and restore normalcy,” it said in the statement.
More than 200 flights were cancelled at Delhi's IGI airport on Friday, as per airport officials. Meanwhile, 52 IndiGo arrival flights and 50 departure flights were cancelled at Bengaluru airport and 92 flights were cancelled at Hyderabad airport.
The airline, which usually records a high punctuality score, registered an on-time performance of 19.7 per cent on Wednesday, a fall from 35 per cent recorded on Tuesday.
Sources told PTI that IndiGo cancelled more than 550 domestic and international flights on Thursday, and delays were reported at several airports.
As civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu reviewed the disruptions with officials from his ministry and IndiGo, the airline sought time till February 10 to fully stabilise operations.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) teams carrying out checks at Terminal 1 of Delhi Airport also found that IndiGo had “inadequate” passenger-handling staff to deal with the crowding caused by the disruption.
IndiGo flights cancelled: When will normal operations return?
The airline asked aviation regulators for relief from the rules that limit pilot duty hours at night and said normal operations would only return by February 10, 2026 amid the disruptions across the country.
It also said more cancellations would take place over the next two to three days as part of schedule stabilisation efforts and flight reductions to start from December 8. The DGCA did not say whether it had agreed to the request.
“The disruptions have arisen primarily from misjudgment and planning gaps in implementing Phase 2 of the (Flight Duty Time Limitations), with the airline accepting that the actual crew requirement exceeded their anticipation,” the aviation regulator said in a statement.
