IndiGo grappled with severe operational disruptions for a third consecutive day on Thursday, cancelling more than 300 domestic and international flights across major airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and others.
A substantial number of flights were also delayed as crew shortages and schedule adjustments weighed heavily on the functioning of the country’s largest airline.
Sources said at least 95 flights were cancelled in Delhi, 85 in Mumbai, 70 in Hyderabad and 50 in Bangalore, along with cancellations at several other airports.
Till afternoon, over 300 flights had been grounded. IndiGo operates around 2,300 flights daily.
Goa: 25 IndiGo flights delayed, 11 cancelled
As many as 11 IndiGo flights operating from the Goa International Airport at Dabolim were cancelled on Thursday while 25 flights of the airline were delayed.
A senior official of the Airport Authority of India-operated Dabolim airport told PTI that the passengers were informed about the cancellations in advance.
As many as 25 IndiGo flights operating from the Dabolim airport were delayed. The delays ranged from a few minutes to five hours, the airport said in a post on X.
It also posted about cancellation of flights departing for Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Surat.
IndiGo’s On Time Performance plunged to 19.7 per cent on Wednesday based on data from six key airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, down from 35 per cent on December 2.
The disruptions are linked to an acute crew shortage following the implementation of the second phase of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FTDL) norms.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation began meeting airline officials to review the escalating situation and is also investigating the disruptions.
While IndiGo has not issued any statement on Thursday, the airline, on Wednesday said a "multitude of unforeseen operational challenges" have disrupted its operations across the network for the past two days, and apologised to the passengers for the inconvenience.
It added that schedules were being adjusted in a calibrated manner to stabilise operations.
Pilot unions have criticised the airline’s preparedness
The 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 pilots' grouping has urged DGCA not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the new FDTL norms.
The Airline Pilots' Association of India said the disruptions indicated a failure of proactive resource planning by dominant airlines and suggested there might also be an effort to pressurise the regulator to dilute the new duty time norms.
In late afternoon trade on Thursday, IndiGo shares fell over 3 per cent to Rs 5,417.90 apiece on the BSE.
IndiGo, in a statement on Wednesday, had flagged various challenges including "minor technology glitches, schedule changes linked to the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system and the implementation of updated crew rostering rules (FDTL) had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated".
In a message to staff on Thursday, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said the immediate goal was to normalise operations and improve punctuality, acknowledging that this would not be easy.
"We serve close to 380,000 customers a day and want each of them to have a good experience. We could not live up to that promise these past days and we have publicly apologised for that," he said.
"Given the size, scale and complexity of our network, these disruptions grow large immediately and require interventions on multiple levels and dimensions. For that a lot of work is being conducted right now. Our immediate goal is to normalise our operations and bring punctuality back on track in the coming days, which is not an easy target," the CEO said.
Bomb threat adds to the woes
A separate security incident added to the day’s troubles. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad received a bomb threat email concerning an inbound IndiGo flight from Sharjah.
Flight 6E 1422 landed safely here at 3.15 PM, they said.
“On December 4, 2025, a Bomb threat email was received on Hyderabad airport customer support id at 2 PM for the Sharjah-Hyderabad flight 6E 1422. The Flight landed safely at Hyderabad at 3.15 PM. Standard safety protocols were initiated,” sources told PTI.
The standard safety protocols include isolation of the aircraft, screening of baggage and passengers, keeping fire engines ready and pressing sniffer dogs into service, among others.
The incident marks the second bomb threat received by the airport on Thursday. The first threat targeted the Madina–Hyderabad IndiGo flight, which was diverted to Ahmedabad airport.