IndiGo Cancels Over 400 Flights Across Major Airports on Saturday

Mumbai: IndiGo cancelled more than 400 flights across four major airports on Saturday, a day after receiving temporary relaxations in the second phase of the court-mandated flight duty and rest rules for cockpit crew. According to sources, 124 flights—63 departures and 61 arrivals—were cancelled at Bengaluru airport, while Mumbai saw 109 cancellations, including 51 departures and 58 arrivals. Delhi recorded 106 cancellations, and 66 flights were cancelled at Hyderabad.

The disruptions continued a day after the airline cancelled over 1,000 flights nationwide on Friday. IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers, who had not commented publicly for three days, issued an apology in a video message on Friday for the inconvenience caused to passengers. He also said the airline expected to operate fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.

The DGCA had provided temporary relief to IndiGo on Friday by revising the definition of night duty from 12 am–6 am to 12 am–5 am and permitting pilots to carry out six night landings instead of two. IndiGo, partially owned by Rahul Bhatia, had sought these relaxations to manage scheduling under the revised Flight Duty Time Limit (FDTL) norms.

However, the pilots’ body, Airlines Pilots Association (ALPA) India, strongly criticised the DGCA’s decision, calling the selective relief “unsafe” and claiming it undermined regulatory parity while putting millions of passengers at increased risk. ALPA India said the relaxations directly contradicted the court’s directions, which required enforcing fatigue-mitigation standards based on aviation science. The association warned that delaying the FDTL implementation weakened essential safety protections for both pilots and passengers.

Following a meeting called by the Ministry of Civil Aviation with ALPA India and other pilot associations on December 5, the Ministry decided to keep the revised FDTL Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) in abeyance. ALPA India expressed concern that this step undermined judicial authority and urged the Ministry and regulator to uphold the court’s order and prioritise safety over commercial considerations.

IndiGo was the first airline to oppose the new FDTL norms introduced in January 2024, arguing that airlines needed more time to adjust due to increased crew requirements. The norms, which include a 48-hour weekly rest period, extended night-time definitions, and limits on the number of night landings, were initially resisted by other carriers as well, including Air India. The DGCA eventually implemented the rules after a Delhi High Court directive, though with more than a year’s delay and with phased variations for airlines such as IndiGo and Air India.

The first phase of the revised FDTL norms came into effect in July, and the second phase, which reduced permitted night landings to two, was introduced on November 1. The norms were originally scheduled for implementation in March 2024.