CN CANADA NEWS NETWORK: India is facing one of its biggest aviation breakdowns in years after IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, cancelled hundreds of flights on December 4 and 5, 2025. The large-scale cancellations caused chaos at major airports, left thousands of passengers stranded, and raised serious questions about planning inside the airline and the Indian government’s handling of new aviation safety rules.
The crisis unfolded rapidly. Over two days, IndiGo cancelled between 400 and 500 flights each day, leading to long queues, overcrowded terminals and widespread confusion. Many passengers said they received last-minute cancellation messages, sometimes even after reaching the gate. The sudden disruption forced people to miss weddings, medical appointments, business meetings and international connecting flights. Some families said they had to attend important events through video calls because no alternative travel option was available.
IndiGo controls almost 60 percent of India’s domestic air-travel market, and such a major breakdown from a single airline is extremely rare. The scale of the cancellations shocked the entire country and quickly turned into a national concern.
According to aviation sources, the situation was triggered by new pilot duty-time and rest rules introduced by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in November 2025. The updated rules increased mandatory weekly rest for pilots, reduced night-time landing limits and brought stricter fatigue-management standards. These changes were intended to make flying safer for both crew and passengers.
However, IndiGo reportedly failed to reorganize its flight schedules and crew rosters in time to meet the new requirements. This resulted in a sudden shortage of available pilots, especially for night operations, and forced the airline to cancel a large number of flights. IndiGo later admitted that there were “misjudgments and planning gaps” during the transition to the new rules.
With public anger rising and airports struggling to manage stranded travellers, the Indian government and DGCA stepped in on December 5. Officials granted a temporary relaxation of some of the new night-duty and rest requirements specifically for IndiGo, allowing the airline more flexibility until February 10, 2026. The government also allowed personal leave to count as weekly rest temporarily, giving all airlines some breathing room to fix staffing shortages.
IndiGo has been asked to submit daily reports on operations, pilot availability and cancellations. The Ministry of Civil Aviation also ordered the airline to clear all pending refunds immediately after complaints piled up from passengers who had spent heavily on cancelled trips.
Passengers across the country described long airport waits, lack of communication and difficulty reaching customer support. Pilot unions, meanwhile, criticised the government’s decision to relax the safety norms, saying these rules were created to reduce fatigue-related risks and should not be compromised under pressure.
Aviation experts say this crisis shows the risks of depending heavily on one dominant airline. They also point to weak crisis planning, poor coordination between the government and airlines and an overall lack of long-term safety culture in India’s aviation system.
IndiGo has told DGCA that it expects full operations to return to normal by February 10, 2026. Until then, passengers may continue to face delays, cancellations and reduced night-time operations.
Critics argue that while safety reforms were necessary, the government’s poor timing, sudden implementation and emergency rollback reflect weak regulatory planning. Many believe that a smoother, phased transition could have prevented the crisis altogether.