IndiGo’s Cancellations: What really happened behind the scenes?

IndiGo has been battered by cancellations and delays, causing consumers to switch to rivals like Air India and SpiceJet, but this raises the question. How have they recovered now?

IndiGo is an Indian budget airline that majorly operates all variants of the Airbus A320 family of aircraft. They mainly operate domestically; however, they offer many flights to destinations such as the Arabian Peninsula, East Asia and the Western world.

In December of 2025, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) introduced new rules so that pilots would be less overworked when entering and exiting India. This was announced in January 2024 and said to be put into action at the end of November 2025. However, IndiGo was not ready, and so many of the airline’s pilots were unable to fly due to these regulations, causing lengthy delays and cancellations.

I myself travelled to India during the whole of December, and I observed many short flights like Colombo to Chennai being delayed for several hours and substantial cancellations throughout the country. My father and I had to book a last-minute flight from Kochi to Chennai, and we struggled to find tickets not on IndiGo, so we decided to fly on a very small airline, SpiceJet.

The other problem was that technical and scheduling issues temporarily grounded a significant number of aircraft. IndiGo’s CEO had asked for the airline to be pardoned temporarily so that they could get themselves together before finally continuing operations smoothly.

But how do they fare now?

IndiGo has taken steps to ensure that it can stay strong by improving aircraft rotation, more coordination in its operations and management, and making sure that IndiGo will continue to give outstanding service on its flights.