Centre Caps Airfares To Prevent "Opportunistic Pricing" Amid IndiGo Crisis

The Civil Aviation Ministry on Saturday announced capping of airfares to control the surge in airline ticket prices following the massive delay and cancellation of all domestic flights of IndiGo. In a statement, the ministry said that it took serious note of concerns regarding the unusually high airfares being charged by certain airlines during the ongoing disruption. "In order to protect passengers from any form of opportunistic pricing, the Ministry has invoked its regulatory powers to ensure fair and reasonable fares across all affected routes," the statement said. 

"An official directive has been issued to all airlines mandating strict adherence to the fare caps that have now been prescribed. These caps will remain in force until the situation fully stabilises. The objective of this directive is to maintain pricing discipline in the market, prevent any exploitation of passengers in distress, and ensure that citizens who urgently need to travel — including senior citizens, students, and patients — are not subjected to financial hardship during this period," it added.

The ministry also said it would continue to closely monitor fare levels through real-time data and would actively coordinate with airlines and online travel platforms. 

In a separate statement, the ministry said that it directed IndiGo to clear all passenger refunds without delay. "The Ministry has mandated that the refund process for all cancelled or disrupted flights must be fully completed by 8:00 PM on Sunday, 7 December 2025. Airlines have also been instructed not to levy any rescheduling charges for passengers whose travel plans were affected by cancellations," the statement said. 

Hundreds Of IndiGo Flights Cancelled Today

Earlier in the day, hundreds of domestic flights of IndiGo were cancelled as the massive crisis surrounding the airline entered the fifth day. Operating 2,300 flights daily with a fleet of over 400 aircraft, IndiGo has seen its punctuality plummet with the operational disruptions that are expected to continue for many more days. The current crisis was primarily caused by a shortage of pilots that was not anticipated due to planning deficiencies, and the authorities are keeping a close watch on the situation.

Scenes of absolute chaos have unfolded at airports across the country as IndiGo's domestic fliers expressed frustration with their flights being delayed or cancelled. 

"We Are Sorry"

On Friday night, IndiGo issued an apology statement on the social media platform X.

"We do deeply apologise and understand how difficult the past few days have been for many of you. While this will not get resolved overnight, we assure you that we will do everything in our capacity to help you in the meantime and to bring our operations back to normal at the earliest," IndiGo said. 

We are sorry 🙏 pic.twitter.com/8DmY2rJrjR

— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) December 5, 2025

The airline said that the refunds for all cancelled flights will be processed automatically to the fliers' original mode of payment.

Also on Friday, the airline's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said that the "full normalisation of domestic flight operations was expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations."

"Crisis On The Verge Of Getting Resolved"

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said on Friday that IndiGo's operational meltdown is "on the verge of getting resolved."

In an exclusive conversation with NDTV, Naidu said, "I can say it is on the verge of getting resolved. The major congestion has happened in the metro airports... and we are seeing all the metro airports, most of them - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai - they have been cleared right now of all the backlog of passengers that was there for the past two days. The other ones will also be finished by tonight. And Indigo is going to start operations with limited capacity again from tomorrow."

"As the operations settle down, they are going to increase the capacity. But in terms of passengers not facing a problem, you will see that happening from tomorrow. And the full capacity of IndiGo operations getting back will probably take a couple more days," he assured.