How the IndiGo crisis unfolded: A timeline of cancelled flights, DGCA probe and thousands of stranded passengers

Throughout this week, 20-year-old domestic carrier IndiGo has had increasing number of flight cancellations and delays over the network across major airports in India.

With passengers reporting delays from 2 December, disruption in services continued today, on 5 December, with PTI reporting at least 400 flights cancelled across airports in the country.

On 4 December, more than 550 flights of the airline — which holds 60% of the domestic aviation market — were cancelled. And on 3 December, at least 150 flights were cancelled at major airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

IndiGo said cancellations would continue for next two to three days as part of schedule stabilisation efforts.

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IndiGo crisis: Timeline of events

IndiGo's flight disruptions entered their fifth day today. The airline has requested temporary relaxation of certain rules that limit pilots’ nighttime duty hours in order to stabilise services.

• On December 2 passengers complained about delays in IndiGo flights at Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai airports, which sources at the airline said was due to operational reasons, and low visibility due to weather conditions.
• December 3: Flights operated by IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India were reportedly delayed due to a technical outage that affected check-in systems at various airports. And sources told Hindustan Times that IndiGo had 42 flight cancellations from Bengaluru airport, and 32 from Mumbai airport on the day.

IndiGo in a statement said several of its flights were delayed and some cancelled over the past few days due to technology issues, airport congestion and operational requirements.

It also apologised to passengers stating: “The inconvenience caused to passengers is regretted. Travellers are advised to verify flight status through official channels before departure.”

• December 4: As per reports, more than 180 IndiGo flights were cancelled and several others faced delays and disruptions on 4 December as problems continued for the airline for the third consecutive day.

IndiGo issued an apology for the chaos and said it has begun making “calibrated adjustments” to its flight schedules. While the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it would investigate the widespread disruptions and asked IndiGo to provide a report outlining the reasons behind the situation.

In a statement to staff, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said that the immediate goal is to normalise operations, bring punctuality back on track, which is not an easy target. “We could not live up to (the) promise of providing (a) good experience to customers,” he added.

Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu expressed “displeasure” at the situation and chaired a high-level review with IndiGo's senior management on 4 December, along with officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), the DGCA, and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

• December 5: As many as 400 flights have been cancelled by the airport today, PTI reported citing sources. According to a HT report, around 16,500 domestic and international passengers have been impacted at Delhi alone.

Further flight cancellations are likely, as the DGCA said IndiGo will scale back its operations from 8 December to help limit disruptions, PTI added.

IndiGo operations in disarray

In a summary of its recent operational performance to MoCA, the airline said it cancelled a total of 1,232 flights in November, ANI reported.

While 755 flights were cancelled due to crew constraints or FDT limitations, it said 258 flights were cancelled due to' airport or airspace restrictions. Additionally, 92 flights were cancelled because of an ATC (Air Traffic Control) system failure, and 127 flights were cancelled for other reasons, the report noted.

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What has impacted IndiGo's services?

According to the airline it had difficulties with roster planning in the wake of the government's crew safety regulations. IndiGo operates about 2,300 domestic and international flights daily. A source told PTI that airlines are facing crew shortage following the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) implementation from 1 November.

In a statement on 3 December, the airline said a “multitude of unforeseen operational challenges” have severely disrupted its network operations, adding that its schedules were undergoing “calibrated adjustments”.

An airline spokesperson explained in a statement that the challenges include “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 (Flight Duty Time Limitations) had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated”.

When will IndiGo's services resume as normal?

In response to a probe by the DGCA, IndiGo has assured full restoration of stable operations by 10 February.

Notably, the airline's on-time performance at six metro airports plummeted to 8.5% on 4 December, from 19.7% on 3 December, and 35% on 2 December, data from the Civil Aviation Ministry showed.

IndiGo on 5 December released the following statement on its official X (Twitter) account: