Chaos erupted across major Indian airports on Wednesday as IndiGo’s flight cancellations crossed the 200 mark, marking one of the carrier’s most serious operational meltdowns in recent years. The disruption left scores of passengers stranded, with widespread delays, overcrowded terminals and mounting frustration.
According to early reports, IndiGo had already cancelled around 130 flights on Tuesday, and an additional 70+ flights were cancelled on Wednesday, taking the total to roughly 200 cancellations across two days.
Airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad reported the worst impact.
As per News18, nearly 200 flights were cancelled by Wednesday afternoon, while PTI reported that 33 flights were cancelled at Delhi and more than 51 flights were cancelled in Mumbai, causing severe congestion and long queues.
A major contributor to this disruption is the acute shortage of cockpit and cabin crew, after the rollout of revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms, which mandate longer rest hours and stricter duty rosters for pilots. The airline has been struggling to realign its network of 2,300 daily flights under the new rules.
Amid rising passenger anger, IndiGo issued an apology, acknowledging the extent of the breakdown.
The airline said:
“We acknowledge that IndiGo’s operations have been significantly disrupted across the network for the past two days, and we sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused.”
IndiGo explained that the cancellations were triggered by a mix of factors, including:
— Minor tech glitches
— Winter schedule adjustments
— Adverse weather
— Increased aviation system congestion
— Updated crew rostering rules under FDTL
The spokesperson added that these issues “had a negative compounding impact… in a way that was not feasible to anticipate.”
To stabilise operations, IndiGo has initiated “calibrated adjustments” to its schedule for the next 48 hours, which may include additional cancellations or rescheduling. Affected passengers are being offered alternate travel or refunds.
The airline has urged travellers to check flight status before leaving for the airport, adding that it “deeply regrets the inconvenience caused” and is working round the clock to restore normalcy.
