India’s biggest carrier, IndiGo, has cancelled more than 1,000 flights in four days, triggering gridlock at airports from Delhi to Bengaluru. The disruption stems largely from the rollout of new Flight Duty Time Limitation rules — stricter crew-rest norms that reshaped how pilots can work, rest and fly at night.
Officials say the new framework from the DGCA drastically reduces roster flexibility for airlines and requires hundreds of additional pilots to maintain dense schedules. Although IndiGo has around 5,500 pilots, sources estimate it now needs over 1,100 more, including at least 200 first officers, to fully run its 2,200-flight-a-day network.
“The new rules significantly change how many hours pilots can operate, rest and recover, especially at night,” an aviation official said, adding that a large portion of IndiGo’s crew was pushed into mandatory rest as soon as the rules kicked in.
How the new rules triggered the crisis
The updated FDTL norms expand weekly rest, restrict night operations and impose tighter duty limits:Night landings reduced from six to two, hurting IndiGo’s heavy late-night operations. Daily flying capped at eight hours; weekly at 35, monthly at 125, yearly at 1,000. Rest must now be twice the duty period, with a minimum of 10 hours in every 24-hour cycle. 48-hour weekly rest is now mandatory.
Under earlier rules, airlines could roster pilots for longer duty periods, more back-to-back flights and shorter breaks. “The operational flexibility that carriers once had has shrunk overnight,” a senior pilot said.
As IndiGo entered the winter schedule — its busiest season — these restrictions coincided with an A320 software advisory that caused late-night disruptions, pushing many flights past midnight and stretching rosters further. With pilots timing out faster, aircraft were left uncrewed.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said the airline is attempting to rebuild schedules amid the new constraints. “We understand the inconvenience passengers are facing, and we are working round the clock to stabilise operations,” he said in a video message.
IndiGo controls nearly 63 per cent of India’s domestic market. With over 2,200 daily flights, even a small imbalance in crew availability snowballs into hundreds of cancellations — far more than any other carrier would experience.
This has raised concerns about market concentration. “A single operational shock can now bring the entire ecosystem to a standstill,” an industry analyst said.
Thousands of passengers remain stranded, some waiting 10–12 hours for flights that were eventually cancelled. The government has directed airlines to ensure quicker refunds and provide support at airports.
