As IndiGo Runs Into Turbulence, A Look At Performance Of Indian Airlines

November turned turbulent for India's largest airline, IndiGo, as operational chaos gripped its network. Government data shows IndiGo cancelled 1,232 flights in November, accounting for a staggering 62% of all cancellations across Indian carriers.

The primary culprit? Crew and Flight Duty Time Limit constraints, which triggered 755 cancellations, followed by airspace restrictions (258) and ATC system failures (92). These disruptions snowballed into massive delays-some stretching up to 10 hours-leaving lakhs of passengers stranded.

Why Were Flights Cancelled?

According to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, October's cancellations were driven mainly by technical glitches (38.7%), followed by weather-related issues (17.7%) and operational challenges (15.4%). Commercial reasons were minimal at 3.6%, while miscellaneous factors made up 24.6%.

However, in 2025, flight cancellation trends varied significantly among Indian carriers. Alliance Air reported the highest cancellation rates consistently, peaking at 6.13% in June and remaining above 4% for most months, except August when it dropped to 0.69%.

On the other hand, IndiGo maintained relatively low cancellations, mostly under 1%, except for May when it rose to 2.03%.

Complaints: Who Tops the List?

Passenger complaints in October 2025 mirrored cancellation patterns. Alliance Air recorded 74.6 complaints per 10,000 passengers, the highest among carriers, while SpiceJet logged 13.8 complaints.

In comparison, IndiGo had only 0.2 complaints, showing a stark difference in customer experience. The most common complaint categories were:

Flight problems: 45.6%
Baggage issues: 18.9%
Refund concerns: 16.3%

On-Time Performance: IndiGo Leads

Across six major metro airports-Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata-IndiGo led with 84.1% OTP, followed by Air India Group (79.3%) and Akasa Air (79.2%).

Alliance Air managed 60%, while SpiceJet was the lowest at 54.4%, indicating significant delays for passengers.

The Big Picture

IndiGo's November meltdown raises questions about operational resilience, even as it leads in on-time performance and maintains low complaint rates. For smaller carriers like Alliance Air and SpiceJet, persistent delays and high complaint ratios remain a major concern.