IndiGo on Saturday cancelled over 400 flights from four major airports, a day after securing temporary relaxations in the second phase of the court-mandated flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, sources said.
Of the cancellations, Bengaluru airport saw 124 flights affected (63 departures and 61 arrivals), Mumbai 109 flights (51 departures and 58 arrivals), Delhi 106 flights (54 departures and 52 arrivals), and Hyderabad 66 flights, the sources added. Pune and Jaipur airports also reported cancellations, with 42 flights and 25 flights respectively affected.
At Jammu Airport, IndiGo resumed nine of its 11 flights, providing relief to stranded travellers, while seven flights were cancelled from Srinagar. Officials said the airline was scheduled to operate 36 flights from Srinagar on Saturday, 18 inbound and 18 outbound, but seven arriving and as many departing flights were cancelled.
“I am going back to Delhi, my flight is working today,” a relieved passenger, Rajni Goyal, told PTI at Jammu Airport. Goyal, who had travelled to attend a marriage function, described the previous days as “severe inconvenience” due to repeated cancellations. “They were not informing us about the correct status of the flight. We kept waiting for nine hours a day at the airport. I had left my child at home and he was also waiting for me,” she said.
Another stranded passenger, Kashish, welcomed the partial restoration but expressed ongoing uncertainty. “I am not sure whether I will actually fly to my destination because only nine of the 11 flights are operating today. We have paid the money and want the service. If they had any internal issue, they should have resolved it amicably without troubling the passengers.” He alleged that fares of other airlines surged from around Rs 4,000 to Rs 30,000 following the cancellations, while trains were running full. “I feel there is a nexus in all this,” he claimed.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights nationwide, CEO Pieter Elbers, after three days of silence, apologised in a video message for the “major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.” He also said the airline expected fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
The DGCA had provided temporary relief to IndiGo, partially owned by Rahul Bhatia, by rolling back the night duty definition to 12 am-5 am from 12 am-6 am and allowing pilots to perform six night-landings instead of two, among other relaxations.
Amid the chaos, SpiceJet announced an expansion of departures from Mumbai on multiple domestic and international routes, including Delhi, Jaipur, Chennai, Dubai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ayodhya, Goa, Patna, Pune, Udaipur, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, and others, to accommodate passengers affected by IndiGo’s disruptions.
Meanwhile, the Airlines’ Pilots Association (ALPA) India raised a “strong” objection to DGCA’s “selective and unsafe” relief to IndiGo, stating the relaxations had “destroyed regulatory parity but also placed millions of passengers at heightened risk.” Following a Ministry of Civil Aviation meeting on December 5, the Ministry announced that implementation of the revised FDTL CAR would be placed in abeyance.
“ALPA India expresses its deep concern that this step directly contradicts the Court's directions, which mandate the enforcement of fatigue-mitigation standards rooted in aviation science,” the association said. “We urge the (Civil Aviation) Ministry and the regulator to uphold the Court's order in both letter and spirit and to prioritise the safety of the pilots and travelling public above all commercial considerations.”
IndiGo had first opposed the FDTL norms introduced in January 2024, which include increased weekly rest periods to 48 hours, extended night hours, and limiting night landings to two from six earlier. While initially resisted by other domestic carriers including Air India, the norms were implemented in phases following Delhi High Court directives.
The second phase, reducing night landings from six to two, came into effect from November 1, more than a year after the originally scheduled March 2024 implementation.