Delhi: Thousands of air travellers across India faced massive disruptions on Friday as IndiGo cancelled nearly 1,000 flights, triggering long queues, overcrowded terminals, and widespread frustration at major airports. The cancellations, one of the largest single-day disruptions in recent aviation history, were attributed to a severe manpower shortage within the airline.
In a video statement released late Friday, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers acknowledged the crisis, offered an apology, and stressed that immediate corrective measures were being put in place. Elbers said the airline had initiated a full-scale “reboot” of its schedules, operations, and manpower allocation to stabilise services. “Regrettably, earlier measures of the last few days have proven not to be enough,” he said. “So we decided today for a reboot of all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest number of cancellations so far. But this was imperative for progressive improvements starting tomorrow onwards.”
Elbers added that cancellations are expected to drop below 1,000 from Saturday and thanked the aviation regulator DGCA for granting temporary relaxation under the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms, enabling IndiGo to deploy crew more flexibly.
IndiGo had earlier shut down all operations from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport till midnight, further adding to the travel chaos.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu openly criticised IndiGo, saying the sudden meltdown resulted from “mismanagement” in adapting to the new FDTL rules implemented by the DGCA on November 1.
He said the ministry and DGCA had been in continuous discussions with airlines for six months regarding the transition and that other airlines, including Air India and SpiceJet, adjusted without major disruptions.
“What has unfolded is due to mismanagement by IndiGo regarding its crew,” Naidu told ANI. “We have given certain abeyance regarding FDTL norms to IndiGo to ensure normalcy and help stranded passengers.”
Meanwhile, Delhi Airport issued an advisory late Friday saying that IndiGo’s operations were “steadily resuming” and requested travellers to check flight status before leaving for the airport.
