IndiGo Board Forms Crisis Management Group After Flight Cancellations Row, DGCA Grants FDTL Relief

IndiGo's parent company InterGlobe Aviation Ltd has escalated its response to a wave of flight cancellations and delays that left thousands of passengers stranded and hammered the carrier’s punctuality this week.

The company’s board has formed a Crisis Management Group (CMG), comprising senior directors Vikram Singh Mehta, Gregg Saretsky, Mike Whitaker and Amitabh Kant, alongside CEO Pieter Elbers, to stabilise operations and oversee customer remedies.

IndiGo recorded a record single-day disruption of more than 550 cancellations on Thursday. Major hubs reported heavy impacts: 172 cancellations at Delhi, 118 at Mumbai, 100 at Bengaluru and 75 at Hyderabad, with material losses also at Kolkata, Chennai and Goa. The airline, which normally operates roughly 2,300 flights a day, saw on-time performance tumble to about 19.7% on Wednesday from 35% the previous day.

The DGCA has issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo, seeking a detailed action plan, while also granting temporary relaxations on certain duty-time rules to help the carrier rebuild rosters more quickly. The government has intervened to cap fares on key routes and pressed IndiGo to prioritise passenger relief, including rebooking, refunds and enhanced airport support.

The board-level CMG, regulatory oversight and short-term operational relief measures together mark an intense, multi-front response as IndiGo works to restore schedule reliability and contain reputational and financial fallout from the disruption.

What CMG will Do?

The board says the CMG is meeting continuously, coordinating with management and monitoring recovery measures. It has taken direct oversight of passenger-facing decisions such as refunds and waiver policies, and is working with airport operators, the ministry and the regulator to restore network normalcy “as quickly as practically possible.”

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has stepped in, issuing a show-cause notice to CEO Pieter Elbers and asking IndiGo to explain the operational collapse within 24 hours. The regulator has demanded a detailed action plan and fortnightly progress reports, and, in an uncommon move, granted a one-time exemption from certain night-duty and Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) provisions to help the airline recover capacity faster. The civil aviation ministry also capped economy-class fares on affected routes after spiking prices following hundreds of cancellations.

Passenger Impact

Passengers reported long queues, frantic calls to helpdesks and difficulty rebooking as alternate fares rose sharply. IndiGo apologised and said it was offering rebookings or refunds; airports issued advisories urging travellers to check flight status with carriers before travelling to terminals.

IndiGo attributed the disruption to a confluence of factors: transitional rostering gaps after Phase-2 implementation of revised FDTL rules, underestimated crew requirements, technology glitches, winter weather and airport congestion. The airline said Phase-2 tightened night-time duty windows and increased crew needs, constraints it said were larger than anticipated and compounded by limited night-landing slots.

The DGCA has signalled close oversight while IndiGo reworks rosters, seeks temporary operational relief and implements pre-planned cancellations to stabilise the network. Industry watchers will be monitoring whether temporary regulatory concessions, accelerated crew hiring and revised scheduling can restore reliability ahead of the busy travel season. The airline warned more cancellations could follow in the next two to three days as it normalises operations.