The crisis at IndiGo intensified on Friday, December 5th, as the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru (BLR) issued an advisory confirming that all IndiGo flights from BLR to Delhi and Mumbai were cancelled until 11:59 PM.
This regional disruption mirrored a nationwide operational breakdown, with over 1,000 IndiGo flights cancelled across the country since Tuesday. Bengaluru logged over 100 cancellations in total on Friday alone, making it one of the hardest-hit hubs.
Passenger Advisory and Ground Reality
- Cancellations: All IndiGo flights from Bengaluru to Delhi and Mumbai were halted for the day.
- Advice: Passengers traveling to other destinations were strongly advised to check their flight status directly with the airline before heading to the airport to avoid inconvenience.
- Stranded Passengers: The chaos has had severe human consequences, including one passenger, Namita, who was stranded at the Bengaluru airport after her flight to Delhi was cancelled, jeopardizing her plan to travel to Haridwar for her father’s ashti visarjan (immersion of ashes).
The Government’s U-Turn
The mass cancellations, primarily driven by a crew shortage linked to the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) for pilots, forced the aviation regulator DGCA to take the extraordinary step of temporarily retracting a key FDTL norm on Friday.
- The Original Norm: The rule mandated that weekly rest and leave periods be treated separately to combat pilot fatigue.
- The Relaxation: The DGCA granted a “temporary one-time extension” by allowing the substitution of leave with the mandatory weekly rest period. This move was made to provide airlines, especially the market-dominant IndiGo, flexibility to stabilize their schedules.
Despite the temporary relief, IndiGo informed the DGCA that it plans to reduce flights starting December 8th and expects stable operations to be fully restored only by February 10, 2026.