Over 40,789 passengers were hit by the massive flight disruptions at Mumbai airport last week, as IndiGo struggled with ongoing operational problems. The airline had 905 flight cancellations and 1,475 delays of over 30 minutes between December 1 and 8, according to the civil aviation ministry.
A week after lakhs of passengers were left stranded at airports across the country, the civil aviation ministry sent senior officers to check 10 major airports. These included Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Guwahati, Goa and Thiruvananthapuram. The officials reached these airports early Tuesday for surprise audits.
A week after lakhs of passengers were left stranded at airports across the country, the civil aviation ministry sent senior officers to check 10 major airports. These included Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Guwahati, Goa and Thiruvananthapuram. The officials reached these airports early Tuesday for surprise audits.
Flight operations hit hard, worst on December 4 and 5
During the eight-day period, IndiGo had planned 3,171 flights from Mumbai but could operate only 2,266. The worst disruption came on December 4 and 5. Cancellations jumped from 14 on December 1 to 295 on December 5, before slowly improving over the weekend. Delays also remained high, peaking at 281 on December 3.
Aviation officials said the pressure on operations led to a chain reaction across terminals as disruptions kept building through the week. Nearly 780 checked-in bags from cancelled flights were still pending delivery. Officials said 90% of these would be delivered to passengers by Wednesday.
Passengers remains stranded | Watch
#WATCH | Delhi: Visuals from Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, where IndiGo passengers continue to be stranded amid flight disruptions and cancellations. pic.twitter.com/vP5ilYegfm
— ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2025
#WATCH | Mumbai: Visuals from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, where IndiGo passengers continue to be affected amid flight disruptions and cancellations. pic.twitter.com/4wb7e9VPtB
— ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2025
Affected routes
The routes worst affected from Mumbai were Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Cochin, Goa and Lucknow. Even international flights to Amsterdam and Istanbul faced major delays and cancellations.
Officials said that uneven positioning of crew and aircraft across sectors slowed the recovery. “We went and saw all the places, including a cargo handling area, baggage handling area and spoke with passengers. A lot of improvements have happened,” said Shankar. Airports have now been told to ensure basic facilities like drinking water and reduce inconvenience to passengers as much as possible.