IndiGo Flight Cancellations & DGCA’s FDTL Rules: What Went Wrong and Who’s Responsible?

IndiGo is facing a severe operational crisis after a wave of cancellations over the last three days left thousands of passengers disrupted and drew regulatory scrutiny.

Over this period, the airline cancelled more than 1,000 flights, including over 400 on Friday and briefly halted all departures from Delhi until midnight, PTI reported. At Mumbai Airport alone, IndiGo cancelled 104 flights on Friday, further straining capacity at one of the country’s busiest hubs.

The airline’s stock was also hit due to the disruptions. InterGlobe Aviation Ltd’s shares fell roughly 2% on the BSE on Friday. After closing at ₹5,437.60 on Thursday, the stock dipped to an intraday low of ₹5,341. IndiGo’s shares have crashed around 9% this week.

In response to the operational strain, IndiGo has approached the DGCA seeking temporary regulatory relief. The airline has requested exemptions from recently tightened night-duty norms, including a rule in effect since November 1 that limits the number of landings a pilot can perform between midnight and 6 a.m. The DGCA is currently reviewing the request.

What Led to the Chaos?

IndiGo has attributed the disruption to several factors, the most significant being an underestimation of crew requirements following Phase 2 implementation of the DGCA’s revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL).

Besides this, the airline cited technology and check-in glitches, winter weather and heavy airport congestion.

The airline acknowledged that it misjudged the number of pilots and cabin crew needed under the stricter rostering norms, which reduced night-duty availability and constrained scheduling flexibility. Industry groups echoed this assessment. According to the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), IndiGo failed to sufficiently redesign its rosters ahead of Phase 2, resulting in manpower shortfalls as more stringent rest requirements and night-duty caps took effect, ANI reported.

What Are FDTL Norms?

FDTL rules are designed to reduce pilot fatigue by increasing mandatory rest periods and tightening limits on night operations and consecutive duty hours. In practice, they reduce the number of sectors a crew can operate in a week and narrow windows for late-night landings and back-to-back night duties.

DGCA’s revised FDTL norms were notified in January 2024 and implemented in two phases across 2025.

Phase 1 took effect on July 1, 2025, raising weekly rest to 48 consecutive hours from the previous 36, a change airlines absorbed with relatively limited disruption. Phase 2, which began on November 1, 2025, imposed stricter night-operation limits: it redefined night time as 12 a.m.–6 a.m., capped pilots at two night landings per roster period, and restricted them to no more than two consecutive night duties.

FDTL Impact on Operations

With fewer allowable night duties and longer mandatory rest periods, IndiGo’s existing rostering model had little slack to absorb routine delays or technical issues. That reduced flexibility meant crews were no longer available to cover multiple night rotations or step in when schedules slipped, increasing the system’s vulnerability to small disruptions.

Recently, when a morning check-in/IT slowdown coincided with adverse winter weather and congested airports, several turnarounds were delayed and crews missed their planned reliefs.

Those missed connections made crew unavailable for subsequent sectors, triggering a cascade effect that forced the airline to pre-emptively cancel large numbers of flights to prevent a deeper operational breakdown.

Why IndiGo Was Most Affected?

IndiGo’s massive daily schedule, roughly 2,000–2,300 flights, combined with a previous roster design that relied heavily on night operations, left it more exposed when night-duty caps and extended rest periods kicked in.

Other airlines reportedly had smaller networks or greater rostering buffers, which softened the immediate impact. Weather-related constraints, ATC issues and an IT glitch on December 3 further compounded the disruption.

Was the Chaos Artificially Created?

Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA India) president Sam Thomas while speaking to PTI alleged that airlines, particularly IndiGo, have occasionally engaged in “deliberate operational slowdowns” to resist tighter regulatory norms.

“This is not unprecedented. It happens from time to time, especially with IndiGo,” he said, claiming ALPA has repeatedly warned the DGCA about such patterns. Thomas argued that whenever rules are introduced that airlines find unfavourable, they tend to delay flights and create mass disruptions to pressure regulators.

He added that India remains an outlier globally for prioritising schedule reliability over crew rest, stating, “This is the only country in the world where passenger convenience takes precedence over passenger safety.”