IndiGo Flight Cancellations LIVE: DGCA withdraws pilots’ roster circular after mayhem; seeks compliance report from IndiGo in 30 days

DGCA to IndiGo: Must submit roadmap for full compliance within 30 days. The regulator has asked the airline to submit a report on crew utilisation every 15 days.

Bhubaneswar Airport Director Prasanna Pradhan said, “As of today, there is information that 11 flights have been cancelled, and all IndiGo flights are getting delayed. No flights are operational on schedule from Bhubaneswar Airport.”

On reports of IndiGo flights being cancelled and delayed, Congress MP Rajeev Shukla said the issue is “extremely serious”.

“Thousands of passengers are facing hardship and are struggling. There are delays of several hours, and flight cancellations are causing immense difficulties. In such a situation, this problem needs to be resolved immediately. The Civil Aviation Minister should call an emergency meeting…” he said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has withdrawn the instructions to all operators regarding Weekly Rest for crew members.

“…In view of the ongoing operational disruptions and representations received from various airlines regarding the need to ensure continuity and stability of operations…the instruction contained in the referenced paragraph that no leave shall be substituted for weekly rest is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect…”

Namita, travelling from Bengaluru to Haridwar for her father’s Asthi Visarjan, is stranded at Kempegowda International Airport after her IndiGo flight was cancelled without any prior notice. She told ANI, that she needs to reach Delhi and then catch a connecting flight to Dehradun to perform the rituals tomorrow.

With alternative flight tickets soaring to around ₹60,000 per person, she cannot afford them.

Tickets on airlines like SpiceJet and Akasa Air have jumped sharply as demand rises. Skyscanner reports Delhi–Mumbai flights on December 6 at ₹24,000 on Akasa Air and ₹22,000 on SpiceJet.

Congress MP Pramod Tiwari told ANI, “Today in the Rajya Sabha, during Zero Hour, I raised a point of order, questioning the importance of propriety. Millions of passengers in India have faced travel disruptions due to the cancellation of over 500 IndiGo flights. This matter directly concerns the House.”

He noted that Fridays see many MPs travelling to councils and that flight cancellations disrupt not just Parliament duties but also the travel plans of ordinary citizens.

“This matter directly concerns the House. Today is Friday. Since many members don’t have sittings on Saturdays and Sundays, they travel to their councils to fulfil their responsibilities. At a time when everyone has reservations and needs to travel, these flights are being postponed indefinitely and then cancelled. This is a matter of propriety for the House. It should be addressed. I am pleased that the Chairman acknowledged this. He directed the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, who has stated that he has certainly asked the Civil Aviation Minister to come prepared and inform the House. This question does not pertain only to MPs. This is connected to India’s travellers. This is the result of the government’s monopoly policy of entrusting everything to one or two people.,” he added, according to ANI.

According to CNN, DGCA conducting strict, real‑time monitoring of IndiGo’s operations, including field inspections across key airports such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Passengers of IndiGo are facing not just widespread flight cancellations but also steep fare hikes on alternate airlines.

“I am seeing the same route flight in 2 days with 3X price increase,” one passenger shared. “The sudden excessive fare surge by several airlines amid the IndiGo issue is deeply unfair to passengers. Such opportunistic pricing erodes trust in the entire aviation sector,” said another.

Simon Wong’s IndiGo flight to Deoghar was cancelled amid network-wide disruptions. High Commissioner tweets:
“I joined the tens of thousands of passengers stranded by IndiGo…”

IndiGo, India’s largest airline, faced operational challenges on Friday, leading to the cancellation of 30 domestic flights from Goa’s Dabolim Airport during the morning. According to a post on X by the airport, managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the affected flights were scheduled to cities including Bengaluru, Surat, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Indore, Mumbai, and Bhopal, PTI reported. The cancellations come amid network-wide disruptions impacting the airline’s schedule across the country.

IndiGo on-time performance at 6 metro airports drops to 8.5%, says data from Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The cancellation trouble continues as IndiGo ground all departing flights from Chennai airport till Friday 6pm, reports PTI citing sources.

Stranded at Patna airport, a passenger said that he was to go to Bhubaneswar and he booked a flight with IndiGo a month ago. “I got a message this morning saying everything was on time. Then, when I checked in, they simply told me the flight was cancelled. There was a flight for tomorrow, but that too was cancelled.”

“Now, there is no flight this week… We spoke to them, but they weren’t taking responsibility, saying they weren’t at fault. Whatever happened was due to the weather… I booked the ticket for Rs 10,000… I was wondering when the refund would come. They said it would come within a week, but some people were over one week old and haven’t received their refunds yet. We have a lot of doubts about it… There’s no train option right now. If we had been informed earlier, we could have bought train tickets… Our backup option right now is to book a cab and go directly from here, but that is also an extra expense…” he said.

In Telangana, a large number of passengers could be seen stranded at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad as IndiGo flights are facing delays and cancellations.

Rahul Gandhi blames IndiGo fiasco on PM Modi’s ‘government’s monopoly’.

In a post on X, he said, “IndiGo fiasco is the cost of this Govt’s monopoly model. Once again, it’s ordinary Indians who pay the price – in delays, cancellations and helplessness. India deserves fair competition in every sector, not match-fixing monopolies.”

On IndiGo facing nationwide flight delays and cancellations, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said she has submitted a calling attention.

She said she hoped the civil aviation minister would give information in the Parliament yesterday itself, “but unfortunately, that did not happen yesterday”.

“He held a meeting late in the night and issued some directives, but what is the point of directives if so many flights are still being cancelled? I have just learned that IndiGo has cancelled all its departures from the Delhi Airport till 3 pm… DGCA has put aside the passengers and is catering to the airline instead of regulating it… If you are not responsible for rising airfares and passenger grievances then shut down the Civil Aviation Ministry…” she said.

IndiGo has cancelled all of its departing domestic flights from Delhi airport till Friday midnight, the airport operator said as the airline struggles to manage the situation.