The crisis is now critical. The aviation ministry and the DGCA met with IndiGo officials yesterday, a meeting that forced the airline to finally admit the severity of the crisis and provide a timeline for stability.
The Scale of Thursday’s Collapse
The cancellations were widespread, hitting every major metro hard.
Jotting down the cancellation breakdown for Thursday (550+ total):
Delhi: 172 flights
Mumbai: 118 flights
Bangalore: 100 flights
Hyderabad: 75 flights
Kolkata: 35 flights
Chennai: 26 flights
The on-time performance (OTP) figure is the most shocking indicator of this collapse: IndiGo’s OTP plummeted to just 19.7% on Wednesday, meaning four out of five flights were delayed or cancelled. And today, the OTP has fallen even further, to a horrifying 8.5% as of December 4th data.
CEO Elbers and DGCA’s Stance
CEO Pieter Elbers sent an internal apology to staff, acknowledging they “could not live up to that promise” of customer experience. He repeated the line that restoring punctuality is “not an easy target.”
The DGCA, however, is not accepting the ‘unforeseen challenges’ defense anymore. The regulator officially stated the disruptions arose “primarily from misjudgment and planning gaps in implementing phase 2 of the FDTL,” with the airline admitting they “underestimated” the actual crew requirement.
Here’s the kicker, the commitment IndiGo had to make:
Normalization Target: IndiGo has assured the DGCA that operations will be fully restored and stable by February 10, 2026.
Immediate Action: To survive until then, the airline will scale back its flight schedule starting Monday and admitted that more cancellations will continue for the next two to three days as they implement pre-planned cancellations to reset their roster.
The DGCA has directed IndiGo to urgently increase ground manpower to manage the stranded passengers and is actively seeking a mitigation plan that includes accelerated crew recruitment and training. They are even considering a temporary waiver from some FDTL provisions until February 10, 2026, to help the airline claw its way out of this self-made operational disaster.
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