IndiGo’s Record High Before the Fall: November Traffic Hits 9.6M Amid December Meltdown Inquiry

IndiGo just experienced the ultimate “high-altitude” hangover. As of Monday, December 29, 2025, the data is out, and it shows the airline was flying at its absolute peak in November—carrying a record 96.93 lakh passengers—right before it slammed into a massive operational wall in December.

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The thing is, the airline was pushing its fleet to the limit to keep up with a massive expansion in the domestic market. Or nothing. Let’s be real, you can’t fly nearly 10 million people in a month with “razor-thin” crew buffers and not expect a snap. Those too.

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The November Record vs. The December Meltdown

IndiGo’s November was a beast. Even though their market share dipped slightly to 63.5%, they carried more people than ever before in their 20-year history.

• The High: 96.93 lakh passengers in November 2025 (beating the previous record of 96.15 lakh from Dec 2024).

• The “Engine”: Load factors jumped from 82.4% to a massive 88.7%. Flights were packed.

• The “Snap”: Then came December 2. The new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules finally bit back. IndiGo hadn’t planned for the extra rest pilots needed, leading to over 5,000 cancellations in just a few weeks.

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The Industry Ripple Effect

It wasn’t just a 6E (IndiGo) story. The whole market grew by 7% year-on-year.

• Air India Group: Hit their own record with 40.75 lakh passengers (26.7% market share).

• SpiceJet: Finally saw some green shoots, jumping to a 3.7% share thanks to some wet-leased planes.

• The Wedding Factor: November wasn’t just about holidays; the massive Indian wedding season meant people had to travel.

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The “Meltdown” Investigation

And here’s the kicker: the DGCA inquiry report into the December chaos was just submitted on Friday (Dec 26). While the government is keeping it “confidential” for now, we know it points to a “massive misjudgement” in manpower planning.

• The Penalty: IndiGo has already been forced to cut its domestic schedule by 10% until February 10 to stabilize.

• The “New Normal”: To prevent another collapse, the regulator has sacked four of its own inspectors and issued show-cause notices to IndiGo’s top brass, including CEO Pieter Elbers.

It’s an ongoing situation where 2025 will technically be the “best year ever” for Indian aviation in terms of numbers, but for the thousands of people who spent their wedding week stranded at an airport gate, it certainly didn’t feel like it.

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