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11-12-2025
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: Thousands of flights operated by India’s largest airline, IndiGo, have been cancelled in the past week, disrupting air travel during peak travel season in the world’s most populous nation.
The chaos started last week due to a pilot shortage after the private carrier failed to adapt to a new government guideline on the rest and duty hours of pilots.
The crisis has brought into the spotlight the working conditions of pilots in India and how airlines pushed policies that negatively affected their pay scale.
What do we know about flight disruptions?
IndiGo, which operates 2,200 flights daily, has been forced to cancel about 3,400 flights since December 2 in the worst crisis in the carrier’s 20-year operation.
There were flight disruptions in several big cities, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at airports across the country.
The airline says its operations will be back to normal by December 15.
Given that IndiGo controls 65 percent market share, the impact on travel and ticket prices was severe, forcing the government to intervene and even issue a cap on domestic fares.
Together, Air India and IndiGo control 92 percent of the market share. IndiGo is the only airline that connects many smaller cities and towns in India, such as Shillong, Kolhapur, Prayagraj, Agra and Deogarh, giving it a monopoly on those sectors.
On Friday, about 1,600 flights were cancelled. A day later, more than 700 flights were cancelled, followed by some 650 flights on Sunday. More than 400 flights have been cancelled so far on Monday.
The disruptions have caused a huge outcry.
What are the new guidelines on pilot rest and duty hours?
Early in 2024, the Indian government introduced new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations to improve pilots’ working hours, rest periods, and fatigue management across Indian airlines. These rules reduced the maximum daily duty hours and tightened rest requirements, aligning more closely with international fatigue‑risk norms.
The new rules, which came into effect on November 1, asked airlines to:
Increase pilots’ mandatory weekly rest period from 36 to 48 hours. A pilot’s personal leave request, however, cannot be included under the mandatory rest period.
Cap pilots’ flying hours that continue into the night to 10 hours.
Cap the weekly number of landings a pilot can make between midnight and early morning to two.
Submit pilots’ fatigue reports every quarter to India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Aviation experts and pilot unions have blamed IndiGo for poor preparation and negligence in adapting to the new rules. Former AirAsia CFO Vijay Gopalan attributed the crisis to IndiGo’s “very, very lackadaisical, nonchalant attitude” towards adapting to the latest regulations.
“Despite the two-year preparatory window before full FDTL implementation, the airline inexplicably adopted a hiring freeze, entered non-poaching arrangements, maintained a pilot pay freeze through cartel-like behaviour, and demonstrated other short-sighted planning practices,” the Federation of Indian Pilots told the Press Trust of India news agency on December 4.
Why did India introduce Flight Duty Time Limitations?
The Indian civil aviation authorities introduced the FDTL regulations to address pilot fatigue and safety concerns, bringing them closer to international standards.
