IndiGo says ops to be fully normal by Feb 10, seeks FDTL relaxations; cancels over 550 flights

IndiGo on Thursday told aviation watchdog DGCA that operations are expected to be fully stabilised by February 10, 2026, and sought temporary relaxations in flight duty norms on a day when the country's largest airline cancelled more than 550 flights, disrupting the travel plans of hundreds of passengers. Acknowledging that the flight disruptions happening for the past few days are primarily due to misjudgment and planning gaps in implementing the second phase of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms, IndiGo also informed the regulator that there will be more cancellations till December 8 and from that day, there will also be a reduction in services. Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu held a high-level review meeting to assess the situation of significant flight disruptions and expressed his displeasure at the way IndiGo handled the new FDTL norms implementation despite having ample time. Sources said IndiGo on Thursday cancelled more than 550 domestic and international flights, and services were delayed at various airports.

The airline, which generally operates around 2,300 flights daily and presents its punctuality as a hallmark, recorded an on-time performance of 19.7 per cent on Wednesday, a steep fall from 35 per cent reported on Tuesday. The airline has been instructed by the minister to proactively inform passengers of any likely cancellations well in advance, and DGCA will conduct strict real-time monitoring of IndiGo's operations. With some spike seen in airfares amid IndiGo flight cancellations, authorities are closely monitoring the situation, and the airline has also been asked to ensure that there is no increase in airfares due to the current disruptions. Officers have been deployed to IndiGo's operational control centres for continuous oversight, the civil aviation ministry said in a statement. In a significant development that might not go well with the pilots' community, IndiGo has sought certain exemptions from specific FDTL requirements for A320 plane operations till February 10, 2026, as part of efforts to normalise the operations. Following the request, DGCA will review the FDTL relaxations sought by the airline. Briefing the regulator on the crew for its A320 family planes, IndiGo said the availability of captains and first officers is 2,357 and 2,194, respectively, for December.

In November, the requirement of captains was 2,422 and first officers at 2,153; the numbers rose after the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL norms. In October, the requirements of captains were 2,186 and first officers were 1,948. These numbers reflect the shortage of crew, a key factor for the ongoing disruptions and with the new FDTL reducing the number of night landings per pilot, night operations have also been impacted. The airline told the regulator that crew requirements exceeded their anticipation and provided data, including projections. IndiGo has informed the regulator that corrective actions are underway, stable flight operations will be fully restored by February 10, 2026, while more cancellations are expected in the next few days.

The airline will reduce flight operations from December 8 to minimise disruptions, according to a statement issued by DGCA. The regulator has also asked the airline to submit a detailed roadmap covering projected crew recruitment, viz-a-viz induction of aircraft, plans for crew training, roster restructuring, safety-risk assessments, and mitigation measures. Besides outlining immediate measures to stabilise operations, the airline has been directed to submit a detailed progress report every 15 days, covering operational improvements, crew availability and roster stability. On Thursday, a DGCA team inspected Delhi airport's Terminal 1, where the airline has substantial operations. "The team observed that IndiGo's passenger-handling manpower was inadequate to manage disruption-induced crowding," DGCA said, adding that it has instructed the airline to urgently increase manpower as well as strengthen passenger-support services at all affected terminals. Meanwhile, the Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA) has said the operational disruptions at IndiGo due to crew issues point to a failure of proactive resource planning by dominant airlines, and claimed that there could also be an effort to pressurise regulator DGCA to dilute the new flight duty time limitation norms. Pilots' body Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze". The airline's CEO Pieter Elbers told the staff that normalising operations and bringing back punctuality will not be an "easy target".