New Delhi:
All IndiGo domestic flights departing Delhi have been cancelled till midnight, the airport said in a brief post on X Friday morning. However, almost simultaneously, sources within the national aviation regulator, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, told NDTV flights had only been cancelled till 3 pm.
The cancellations come a day after the DGCA red-flagged the lack of IndiGo ground staff at Delhi’s Terminal 1 to deal with the surge in stranded and irate passengers.
Either way, the conflicting information – which will further confuse tens of thousands of passengers already worried over extended delays and soaring travel costs – underline the chaos that has surrounded flight operations at IndiGo, India’s largest airline, over the past four days.
Passenger Advisory issued at 11:34 Hours#DelhiAirport #PassengerAdvisory #DELAdvisory pic.twitter.com/lVeV76itAW
— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) December 5, 2025
Domestic IndiGo flights from Chennai to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Hyderabad have also been cancelled – till 6 pm – due to “operational reasons”, Chennai airport said on X.
#FLIGHTUPDATE | Passengers are informed that, as communicated by IndiGo @IndiGo6E , flights to BLR, BOM, DEL, CCU and HYD with departures scheduled up to 1800 hrs have been cancelled due to operational reasons.
— Chennai (MAA) Airport (@aaichnairport) December 5, 2025
As many as 550 flights were cancelled on Thursday alone – the most ever by IndiGo, an airline that prides itself on its punctuality, in a single day – across multiple airports, including Delhi.
READ | 550 IndiGo Flights Cancelled, New Record For 20-Year-Old Airline
The airline has already cancelled over 500 flights today, including the now-scrapped Delhi-outbound services. And IndiGo also cancelled over 200 between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Cancelled IndiGo flights have left tens of thousands of people stranded.
Overall, nearly 1,300 flights have been cancelled so far, and there is no sign things will improve in the short term; IndiGo has already warned of more disruptions till December 8 at least.
READ | Piles Of Suitcases, Passenger Chaos As IndiGo Scraps Record 500 Flights
IndiGo admitted Wednesday it had misjudged the number of pilots needed under new FDTL, or Flight Duty Time Limitations, rules that mandate increased rest periods (from 36 to 48 hours in a seven-day period) and reducing the number of consecutive hours a pilot can be on duty.
The first phase of these regulations kicked in on July 1 and the second on November 1.
The cumulative effect meant, quite simply, that IndiGo did not have the pilots or crew to operate hundreds of flights; those listed as ‘on duty’ in earlier rosters were not allowed to fly.
NDTV Explains | New Safety Rules For All Airlines. Why IndiGo Was Hit Hardest?
The sheer size of the airline’s operations – in normal conditions it runs over 2,200 domestic and international flights daily – and a large number of overnight services has added to the chaos.
The new FDTL rules also cap night-time flights.
The airline has sought an exemption from these rules till February 10, 2026, to give it time to hire more pilots and crew, and stabilise its operations. IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers has warned staff (and customers) restoring services and pre-chaos levels of punctuality “will not be easy”.
Elbers also apologised to IndiGo passengers and said the airline is working “diligently” with the government and the DGCA to “reduce the cascading impact of these delays and restore normalcy’.
There has, however, been little respite for the airline; it has also been criticised by the Federation of Indian Pilots for its “unorthodox lean manpower strategy”. In a brief statement Thursday, the FIP said, “stop blaming pilots… fix management practices”, and also questioned the airline expanding its flight schedules, particularly seasonal ops, while knowing it did not have the required number of pilots.
NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.
