A bride and groom in Bengaluru watched their own reception on a big screen while dressed in wedding finery. Their flight home had been delayed repeatedly and then cancelled at the last minute; they joined the party virtually. Across India, scenes like that — passengers stranded for hours, crowds at ticket counters, luggage waiting at carousels — became the defining image of the crisis that swept the country’s busiest airline.
What happened
Over the first week of December 2025 IndiGo, India’s largest carrier, cancelled more than a thousand flights in a matter of days. On one day alone the airline grounded roughly 385 flights; the day before, cancellations numbered in the thousands. Major hubs — Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad — felt the strain most acutely. Hundreds of passengers waited for explanations; some, like the newlyweds, lost once-in-a-lifetime moments.
IndiGo acknowledged large-scale disruptions and pointed to a combination of operational issues — weather, a software advisory on an A320 model that pushed duty times past midnight, and the impact of newer pilot-rest rules — while promising refunds, accommodations and a phased reboot of its network.
The rule change that exposed thin rosters
At the centre of the disruption are stricter Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules enforced by India’s regulator. Compared with older, more flexible rostering norms, the updated limits significantly reduce how much a pilot can fly and tighten night-operation allowances.
Key changes that matter to an airline running a dense, late-night network:
- Daily flight-time caps and tighter consecutive-duty constraints (a practical cap of about eight flight hours a day for many rosters).
- Weekly and monthly ceilings (roughly 35 hours a week, 125 hours a month, and a 1,000-hour annual cap cited by regulators and industry coverage).
- Stronger rest guarantees — rest periods must equal roughly twice the duty time, with at least 10 hours in any 24-hour window.
- A sharp reduction in permitted night landings in a defined period (from six to two in some formulations), constricting late-night rotations.
Those rules improve safety and reduce fatigue risk — but they also change the arithmetic of crew planning. An airline that previously relied on flexible night rotations now needs more pilots and more standby coverage to run the same number of flights.
Scale met a shortfall
IndiGo operates a huge, high-frequency network. Even with a pilot pool measured in the thousands, the new rostering math means many crew members are pushed into compulsory rest at the same time, and tight night restrictions make covering late schedules harder. Internal estimates cited in reporting suggested the carrier needed well over a thousand additional pilots — including a few hundred first officers — to sustain the winter schedule under the new limits.
Pilot unions and airline critics say this exposed a longer-term staffing strategy: hiring slowdowns, pay freezes and a lean-manpower approach that left little buffer. The Federation of Indian Pilots argued the rules had been public knowledge for months and that other carriers had adjusted without mass cancellations. IndiGo’s management, by contrast, said a mix of factors — not just the rules — created an unusually acute shortage that cascaded across its roster.
Regulator response and accountability
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has leaned into oversight. In the wake of the disruptions the regulator temporarily relaxed one strict clause to allow airlines a little more rostering flexibility and has taken steps to press IndiGo for answers; reports indicate a show-cause notice was issued to the airline’s chief executive as authorities sought explanations for the widespread cancellations.
At the same time, the central government arranged special relief measures — including route and train relief in some corridors — to help move stranded travellers while the carrier worked to stabilise operations.
Human stories and reputational damage
Beyond numbers and regulatory filings, the crisis has been raw at the personal level. Passengers have reported waits of 10–12 hours before cancellations, missed ceremonies, disrupted business trips and frayed nerves at airport counters. One couple had to watch their own wedding reception remotely after a Bhubaneswar–Hubballi flight was cancelled late on. Video and photos of passengers clustered around check-in desks, or speaking tearfully on mobile phones, circulated widely.
For a 20‑year‑old airline that built its brand on punctuality and low fares, the reputational hit is significant. IndiGo said it would “reboot” rosters and systems and expected gradual normalcy between about December 10–15, as new crew join and schedules are rebuilt.
Why this matters beyond IndiGo
The episode underlines a tension in modern aviation: higher safety and fatigue standards are non-negotiable, but they force a rethink of hiring, scheduling and network design. When a single carrier dominates a large market share (reporting has put IndiGo’s share near or above 60%), operational shocks at that carrier ripple through the whole system — affecting airport operations, connecting traffic, and public confidence in air travel on a national scale.
Competitors like Air India and Akasa reported fewer disruptions, suggesting they had either different scheduling patterns or heavier buffers. Regulators will now be scrutinising not only compliance with safety rules but also whether schedule approvals reflect realistic crew availability.
The short list of next steps for recovery
IndiGo will have to staff up rapidly, rework rotations to respect the tighter rest rules, and repair customer trust. Pilots’ unions will press for fair rostering and transparency; the DGCA will keep a close watch. For passengers, the focus is immediate: refunds, rebooking and clarity.
Amid the inconvenience and headlines, one practical outcome may be a more robust Indian crew market — more hires, new training pipelines, and a shift away from ultra-lean rosters. That will take time; in the meantime travellers and airports will bear the brunt.
A week of cancellations exposed how fragile a sprawling network can be when safety rules and staffing collide. For many passengers, that was no abstract policy debate — it was a missed flight, a cancelled celebration, and a long wait at the airport counter.