New Delhi, Dec 3 – IndiGo told the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that 1,232 of its flights were halted on Wednesday. 755 of those were pulled because crew shortages, driven by the updated flight‑duty‑time‑limit (FDTL) rules, left the airline short of pilots and cabin crew. Another 258 cancellations stemmed from airspace restrictions, while 92 were caused by an ATC system failure.
The DGCA said it is looking into the root causes and is working with IndiGo to cut back on cancellations and delays so passengers suffer less disruption. It has also asked IndiGo to report to DGCA headquarters with details of what led to the current situation and a plan to tackle the ongoing disruptions.
In a statement, IndiGo acknowledged that a large share of the cuts “arose from crew/FDTL compliance and airport/airspace/ATC‑related factors, many of which lie beyond the operator’s direct control.” The carrier added that its overall on‑time performance (OTP) slipped to 67.7 % in November from 84.1 % in October.
The DGCA clarified how the revised FDTL norms should be implemented and advised IndiGo to streamline crew planning and rostering while staying within the limits. IndiGo is also improving its liaison with ATC and airports to ease capacity bottlenecks, speed up turnarounds and better handle disruptions.
Passengers are urged to check their flight status through official channels before heading to the gate.
IndiGo cancelled a sizeable number of flights on Wednesday at major hubs such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, largely because the crew shortfall threw its schedule into chaos. While there were cancellations on Tuesday, the situation deteriorated on Wednesday.
“We acknowledge that IndiGo’s operations have been significantly disrupted across the network for the past two days, and we sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused,” the airline said.
It cited a mix of unforeseen challenges—small tech glitches, seasonal schedule changes, bad weather, heightened air‑traffic congestion and the introduction of new crew rostering rules—that compounded to make operations unmanageable.
To stem the fallout and restore stability, IndiGo has rolled out calibrated schedule adjustments that will remain in place for the next 48 hours. These measures aim to bring operations back to normal and progressively improve punctuality on the network. The airline’s teams are working nonstop to ease customer discomfort and stabilize operations as quickly as possible. Affected travelers will receive alternative travel arrangements or refunds where appropriate.
“We request customers to check the latest flight status at https://www.goindigo.in/check-flight-status.html before heading to the airport,” the statement added.
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