Explained: What Led To Over 200 IndiGo Flights Being Cancelled Across India

India's largest airline, IndiGo, is grappling with one of its most serious operational disruptions in recent years, as more than 200 flights were cancelled and hundreds more delayed across major airports on Tuesday and Wednesday. The disruption left thousands of passengers stranded, triggered long queues at terminals, and raised questions about what led to the sudden collapse of schedules.

The immediate causes span crew shortages, new duty-time rules, technical breakdowns at key airports and heavy congestion during peak winter operations. 

Reason(s) Behind The Chaos

1. Acute Crew Shortage

IndiGo has been struggling with a shortage of pilots and cabin crew after new, stricter duty-time regulations came into effect on November 1. The updated rules sharply reduced the number of hours pilots can fly and increased mandatory rest requirements.

Several IndiGo flights were unable to depart simply because no legally available crew remained to operate them. Multiple aviation sources said the airline reached a point where entire rotations had to be cancelled because pilots rostered earlier were no longer eligible to fly under the revised limits.

2. New Roster Rules (FDTL Norms) 

India's latest phase of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) is designed to reduce fatigue and improve safety. IndiGo, which runs one of the largest networks in Asia with over 2,200 flights a day and a significant number of night-time operations, struggled to rebuild rosters in time.

The new norms required overhauls to duty schedules, night-landing plans and weekly rest charts. Insiders said the airline's scheduling systems had not fully stabilised, and the new requirements created immediate crew deficits across high-density routes.

3. Technical Glitches At Major Airports

On Tuesday, airports including Delhi and Pune reported failures in their check-in and departure control systems, creating long queues and delaying departures across multiple IndiGo rotations. The delays accumulated rapidly throughout the day, upsetting the tightly connected chain of aircraft and crew movement.

4. Airport Congestion and Winter Traffic

High passenger volumes, winter fog-related stress on operations, and peak-hour congestion at major metro airports further weighed down IndiGo's ability to recover lost time. With its dense schedule, even minor delays created ripple effects across its network.

IndiGo's website states that the airline operates "well over 2,200 daily flights." Government data from Tuesday showed its on-time performance had plunged to just 35 per cent, implying that more than 1,400 flights were delayed on a single day.

A total of 1,232 flights were cancelled in the month of November, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

What Are the New Roster Rules?

India's civil aviation regulator introduced tighter FDTL rules aimed at improving safety by reducing crew fatigue. The changes include:

Higher Weekly Rest Requirements

Pilots must now receive longer mandatory rest periods each week. This reduces the number of consecutive duties they can legally perform and affects roster planning.

Restrictions On Night Landings

The number of night landings a pilot can perform has been reduced from six to two in a specified period. Airlines that rely heavily on night-time operations have been significantly affected.

Reduced Duty Hours

The rules impose tighter limits on continuous duty periods, which means more pilots are required to operate the same schedule.

The DGCA caps flight time to:

8 hours per day

35 hours per week

125 hours per month

1,000 hours per year

Crew must also receive rest periods equal to twice the duration of their flight duties, with a minimum of 10 hours of rest within any 24-hour window.

The norms improve safety but require airlines, especially those with fast-turnaround models, to deploy more pilots per aircraft. IndiGo's large overnight network was particularly vulnerable to this change.

Why Are Other Airlines Not Affected The Same Way?

Although the new norms apply across airlines, the disruption is heaviest at IndiGo due to several structural reasons:

1. Scale and Frequency

IndiGo operates the majority of India's domestic flights. With such a high volume, even a small disruption creates a large nationwide impact.

2. Large Night-Time Network

While airlines like Air India, Vistara and Akasa operate relatively fewer night sectors, IndiGo runs many high-frequency overnight services. The cap on night landings sharply reduced how many flights a single crew pairing could legally operate.

3. Tight Crew Utilisation Model

IndiGo's network efficiency depends on maximising crew hours and minimising downtime. Once the duty-time limits tightened, gaps opened almost immediately.

4. Lower Flexibility In Network Realignment

Airlines with smaller networks found it easier to adjust schedules. IndiGo's vast matrix of connections made it challenging to reshuffle pilots and cabin crew quickly.

When Will The Situation Improve?

IndiGo says it is attempting "calibrated adjustments" and expects operations to stabilise within around 48 hours. The airline is redeploying crew across high-stress routes, modifying night schedules, conducting pre-planned cancellations to avoid last-minute chaos and reorganising aircraft and crew rotations.

Passengers have been advised to keep checking flight status and expect continued delays during this period.

"We sincerely apologise to our customers... A multitude of unforeseen operational challenges, including 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, had a negative compounding impact on our operations," IndiGo said in a statement.