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IndiGo Cancels Over 70 Flights as Crew Shortages Deepen after New FDTL Rules: Reports
Moneylife Digital Team 03 December 2025
Consumer Interest
Indian carrier IndiGo is forced to cancel more than 70 flights across the country on Wednesday, with operations severely disrupted at major hubs including Bengaluru and Mumbai. Several arrivals and departures were affected throughout the day, as the carrier struggled with a worsening crew shortage compounded by technology issues, airport congestion and heightened operational requirements.
 
According to media reports, at least 42 flight cancellations are reported from Bengaluru and 32 from Mumbai, while services to and from Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Goa, Kolkata, Lucknow and Ahmedabad were also affected. Passengers at multiple airports reported long delays, last-minute cancellations and growing queues as the airline attempted to reassign limited crew across its busy network.
 
An IndiGo spokesperson acknowledged the disruptions, stating that the airline had faced 'unavoidable delays and some cancellations' over the past few days due to a combination of technology glitches, airport congestion and operational factors. 
 
 
However, officials and industry insiders noted that the situation is 'significantly worsened' by an acute shortage of crew following the implementation of the second phase of flight duty time limitations (FDTL) norms.
 
The latest duty-time rules, enforced by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) after directions from the Delhi High Court, increase mandatory weekly rest periods to 48 hours, extend the definition of night hours and restrict night landings to two per week instead of six. 
 
Airlines, including IndiGo and Air India, had initially opposed the norms on grounds of manpower constraints and sought phased implementation. While the first phase came into effect in July, the more stringent second phase was rolled out on 1 November, intensifying pressure on airline rosters.
 
Sources told media that the shortage of crew became 'critical' on Tuesday and worsened further on Wednesday as IndiGo attempted to simultaneously comply with the new safety norms and maintain high utilisation across its network of around 2,100 daily flights, a significant proportion of which operate during night hours.
 
 
Real-time data from the Union ministry of civil aviation portal reflected the extent of the disruption: IndiGo’s on-time performance plunged to just 35% on Tuesday across six major domestic airports. In comparison, Air India recorded 67.2%, Air India Express 79.5%, SpiceJet 82.5% and Akasa Air 73.2%.
 
The airline’s operational challenges are further complicated by fleet availability issues. As of 2 December 2025, IndiGo had 416 aircraft, of which 366 were active and 50 remained grounded, according to Planespotters. The number of grounded aircraft has risen from 47 a month earlier, adding to the strain on scheduling and crew deployment.
 
With flyers facing widespread inconvenience, the cascading disruptions are likely to persist unless airlines received operational flexibility or additional crew capacity was built into rosters. The full impact of the new FDTL norms, particularly on carriers with large night-time schedules, is expected to unfold in the coming weeks.
 
IndiGo, headquartered in Gurugram, has not indicated how long the disruptions may continue but has advised passengers to check their flight status before heading to the airport. The carrier continues to face pressure to stabilise operations as demand remains strong and peak holiday travel approaches.
 
Comments
david.rasquinha
3 months ago
The new FDTL norms were well known and Indigo ad ample time to comply or make arrangements. One hopes the DGCA imposes a heavy penalty on Indigo.
Reply
Meenal Mamdani
3 months ago
The flight duty time limitations (FDTL) norms, mandatory weekly rest periods to 48 hours, extend the definition of night hours and restrict night landings to two per week instead of six, are eminently sensible and are necessary to reduce the chances of human error and accidents.
What is the solution?
More trained personnel are needed but that cannot happen at the touch of a button.
Why don't we have more trained pilots?
Reply
Kamal Garg
Replied to Meenal Mamdani comment 3 months ago
More so, when the rules were notified effective from 1st November 2025, why the airlines did not do any/enough to train/hire new pilots. Are they busy in profiteering and charging exorbitantly high price for all their flights.
Reply
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