IndiGo Airlines, the largest carrier in India with more than a 60% share in the domestic skies, grapples with its worst operational meltdown since COVID, with the airline having cancelled over 2,000 flights in four days and impacting almost 300,000 passengers.
But ticket sales are soaring due to high peak-season demand and dynamic pricing pushing fares up to three to six times normal rates. Operations collapsed on Friday with more than 1,000 cancellations in a single day, including all domestic departures from Delhi, amid pilot shortages triggered by the stricter DGCA FDTL rules implemented in phases from July and November 2025. Despite chaos at major airports like Mumbai-109 cancellations on December 6, Bengaluru-over 120, and Hyderabad-69, non-metro routes like Kolkata-Guwahati and Chennai-Coimbatore remain operational, keeping booking windows open.
New FDTL rules aimed at combating aviation pilot fatigue ordered increasing weekly rest hours to 48 from 36, restrict consecutive night duties, night landings to two per week from six, and redefined night hours from midnight to 6 AM. IndiGo did not expand its roster enough to mitigate such an effect, thus falling short by approximately 200 pilots. This snowballed: a single disrupted crew rotation would cause problems for subsequent flights in IndiGo's network of over 2,200 flights per day, exacerbated by winter schedules, weather, and technical glitches during peak travel this wedding-Christmas-New Year period. TrueScoop expert Capt. Kaushal Sharma of Dhillon Aviation attributes this to "acute crew shortage" on account of non-compliance, which can turn minor issues into mass cancellations.
DGCA granted IndiGo temporary exemptions until February 10, 2026, reverting to 36-hour weekly rest (including leave), allowing over two night duties if needed, up to six night landings, shorter night window (midnight-5 AM), and permitting training pilots on flying duty to stabilize operations. Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu blamed IndiGo's roster mismanagement, promising normalcy in three days and a four-member committee report in 15 days, while CEO Pieter Elbers estimates 10-15 days for full recovery and offers waivers for changes/cancellations until December 15 plus hotels/transport. Pilots' unions decry it as a safety compromise; Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi calls it fallout from government-enabled monopoly.
IndiGo continues to sell tickets at sky-high prices primarily because of official aviation protocols that require airlines to keep booking open unless a flight is formally declared cancelled. This means even amid widespread chaos, flights that are not cancelled or planned for future dates remain available for booking. Passengers, especially during the busy festival season, are eager to secure seats despite inflated prices, which sometimes soar as high as Rs 54,000 even for short domestic routes. This open booking policy aims to keep operations transparent, prevents premature suspension of ticket sales, and gives passengers the benefit of doubt that services will resume to normal soon. Another big factor that contributes to the skyrocketing prices is the substantially reduced seat availability because of mass cancellations of flights on key metro routes. IndiGo enjoys a dominant market hold, meaning there are fewer alternative carriers or flights available, thus creating a supply-demand mismatch. The fewer number of seats being available in the reduced number of operational flights makes it easier to substantially jack up the fares of the airline. This situation has led to concerns and allegations of "black marketing" of tickets at exorbitant rates since desperate passengers have little choice but to pay premiums. For their part, flights on non-metro and international routes-which are less affected by cancellations-continue unabated, ensuring sustained bookings and further consolidating demand on to the troubled metro routes, reinforcing the high prices passengers face.