IndiGo cancelled at least 150 flights on Wednesday. Chaos spread across major airports in India. Thousands of passengers remained stuck and confused. The airline struggled to adjust to strict new crew duty rules. Even minor issues turned into a nationwide crisis in just a few hours.

The airline apologised to travellers. It warned that more cancellations could continue until Friday. IndiGo said it had started “calibrated adjustments” to stabilise operations over the next 48 hours.

“We acknowledge that IndiGo’s operations have been significantly disrupted across the network for the past two days, and we sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused,” a spokesperson said. The airline blamed a mix of problems. These included technical glitches, bad weather, heavy congestion and new Flight Duty Time Limitations that started in November.

Emergency software update caused a chain reaction

The immediate trigger came over the weekend of November 29–30. IndiGo rushed an emergency software patch for its Airbus A320 aircraft. This move disrupted pilot and crew scheduling. At the same time, new FDTL rules left almost no extra flexibility in the system.

Data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation showed the airline was already under pressure. IndiGo cancelled 1,232 flights in November alone. Out of these, 755 were linked to FDTL issues. Its on-time performance dropped to 67.70 percent, compared to 84.1 percent in October.

Baggage problems add to the chaos

The situation worsened at Delhi airport. IndiGo’s baggage system failed at both Terminal 1 and Terminal 3. The issue at T3 remained small. However, T1 faced a serious breakdown from around 1.30 pm to 6 pm.

“While the issue at T3 was minor, T1 faced severe issues starting at around 1.30pm and going up to around 6pm,” a government official said. The system failed to give proper updates on baggage. IndiGo did not comment on the problem. Several passengers said ground staff were missing and no one offered support.

Airports across India see cancelled flights

Tension rose at airports across the country. At Delhi airport, 67 flights were cancelled. In Bengaluru, 42 flights were called off. Hyderabad lost 40 flights. Mumbai saw 33 cancellations. Departures and arrivals were both affected.

Social media quickly filled with videos of angry travellers. Many people argued with airline staff. Others sat on the floor with luggage, waiting for answers that never came.

Passengers speak out

Many passengers arrived at the airport only to learn that their flights were cancelled.

“We’ve been told that there’s a flight only after 5.30am on Thursday. We don’t stay in Delhi and they have not given us any accommodation,” said 76-year-old Gautam Patil. He and his wife had already spent 40 hours travelling from Chicago and were supposed to go to Ahmedabad.

Others missed important connections.

“I lost two connecting flights to Kochi because of this,” said Neha Mulay in Pune. Her early morning flight to Bengaluru was first delayed for four hours and then cancelled.

Another traveller, Mohil Manish Shah, described his long wait on a Delhi–Mumbai flight.

“When I reached Gate 34 at 5:45 pm, the gate agents informed me the flight was delayed by 15 minutes. This message kept repeating without any transparency. When passengers sought clarity, a customer representative stated one crew member had been called off at the last minute. We were then informed that the boarding would commence at 7.30pm. We were loaded onto buses to board the aircraft but had to wait in it for 30 minutes. The flight finally took off at 9.46pm.”

He said the delay made him miss an important event, even though he had paid a higher fare.

Pilot shortage and new rules worsen the crisis

IndiGo has been facing a pilot shortage since new FDTL rules started on July 1 and November 1. These rules aim to reduce tiredness and improve safety. They increased weekly rest to 48 hours, extended night hours and reduced the number of night landings to two from six.

The airline somehow managed these tighter limits at first. However, the emergency software update delayed many flights. These delays forced crew members to cross their allowed duty time. As a result, more flights had to be cancelled.

A former airline official explained, “The urgent safety mandate on A320 aircraft did not lead to flight cancellations on Saturday but definitely delayed flights, causing expiry of the FDTL. Moreover, airspace around Chennai had some impact on Sunday as well, not allowing the situation to get better.”

Bad weather linked to Cyclone Fengal near Chennai also slowed recovery efforts.

DGCA begins investigation

The DGCA stepped in on Wednesday. It called IndiGo officials to its headquarters. The aviation regulator asked the airline to explain what caused the situation and how it plans to control further delays and cancellations.

Single-fleet strategy becomes a weakness

For years, IndiGo has used almost only Airbus A320-family aircraft. This helped the airline save money on training, maintenance and spare parts. This strategy also helped it capture over 60 percent of India’s domestic market.

However, when an emergency order forced more than half of its planes to undergo urgent maintenance, the airline had no other aircraft type to rely on. Unlike Air India, which uses Boeing and other planes, IndiGo had no backup option. What was once a strength now became a major weakness.

On-time performance hits a historic low

IndiGo usually leads in punctuality. However, its on-time performance dropped to just 35 percent on Tuesday. This became the lowest score among all Indian airlines. Normally, the airline stays above 80 percent.

IndiGo runs around 2,200 to 2,300 flights daily. It connects more than 90 domestic and 45 international destinations. The airline said its teams were “working around the clock to ease customer discomfort and ensure operations stabilise as quickly as possible”.

It also said that affected passengers could either choose another flight or claim a refund. The airline advised travellers to check flight status before heading to the airport.

As of December 2, IndiGo had 416 aircraft in its fleet. Out of these, 366 were in operation and 50 were grounded, according to Planespotter.net.

Pilot body blames poor planning

The Airline Pilots Association of India criticised airlines for poor preparation. It said that they had enough time to plan for the new rules but failed to adjust crew schedules in advance.

“Despite sufficient time being accorded, most airlines started preparing rather late, failing to properly adjust crew rosters 15 days in advance as required,” the association said. It added that the crisis showed “an initial managerial underestimation or delay in the strategic planning necessary to provision crew accordingly”.