NEW DELHI: Passengers across India faced travel disruption after IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights amid operational chaos, with the government putting new pilot duty time rules on hold to restore services. At Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, passengers were seen queuing amid cancellations.
One traveller described the impact on a major competition, “I was scheduled to go to Guwahati on a 6.15 am flight; this was a connecting flight from Kolkata. We were selected for Smart India Hackathon 2025; about 74,000 ideas were submitted there and nearly 1400 ideas were selected. Our centre was North-Eastern Hill University and we were scheduled to perform there. We had booked IndiGo flights. But the flight is delayed and so, we will not be able to go there. There is no other possible way of transportation. If we take a train, it will take us 3 days to reach there. Our hard work of 6-7 months is now wasted. We are returning home. Such opportunities are rare…We were selected in the first attempt but due to flight cancellation, we are unable to go ahead. We were a team of 6 people and we were accompanied by 2 mentors…” Other passengers reported luggage and travel issues. One said, “I was stranded in Kolkata and Hyderabad for 2 days. Somehow, I came (to Indore) through another airline and my luggage is still lost. I am here for the same…” Another added, “My luggage has not arrived since 2 days and there is no information. I came to Indore on December 3rd via an IndiGo flight… They have given me a propriety report and a contact number, which is not being received.” Among those stranded was 37-year-old Mangaljeet Singh from Ludhiana, who was seen sitting outside Gate 2 of Terminal 2 with his family at Delhi’s IGI airport. “Their first flight from Ludhiana to Delhi via Amritsar had been cancelled, forcing them to travel to the capital by road, only to find out that their connecting flight to Visakhapatnam via Hyderabad was also cancelled. His son’s national skating competition has been postponed by a day due to similar delays faced by several participants. The family of five could secure only two tickets on another airline, leaving Singh’s wife, 3-year-old daughter and 64-year-old mother with no other option but to return to Ludhiana. If my son misses the competition, his year-long efforts will come to naught,” Singh said. At Terminal 1, 34-year-old Rinpuii from Aizawl was seen carrying her unwell two-year-old daughter, trying to reach a medical professional in Thiruvananthapuram. Standing outside the airline ticket counter for at least five hours, she met 22-year-old Carolyn, a Delhi resident also travelling home to Aizawl. “They have nowhere to stay in Delhi. And she does not know when she can board the flight home,” Carolyn said. Pankaj Gupta from Alwar was another passenger struggling to manage disrupted travel. The 26-year-old had brought his elderly parents to Delhi for a vacation and hoped to surprise them with a flight home via Jaipur. “They have never boarded a flight and were so happy when they realised that we were entering the airport. Then, despair took over,” Gupta said. Outside Terminal 2’s Gate 5, a group of 30 tourists from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, returning from Dharamshala, reported waiting at the airport for two days. Hemit Navdia, 23, who was marshalling the group, said: “It’s costing me a lot extra to manage so many people in this condition. We don’t have any accommodation here. The airport authority has finally given us some food.”A four-member committee to review operational disruptionsThe government suspended the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) orders with immediate effect. Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the move prioritised passengers. “This decision has been taken solely in the interest of passengers, especially senior citizens, students, patients and others who rely on timely air travel for essential needs… taken urgent measures to address the ongoing disruption in flight schedules, particularly those of IndiGo.” DGCA has set up a four-member committee to review the operational disruptions and assess accountability. Aviation authorities have offered their Airbus A320-type-rated flight operations inspectors (FOIs) to help IndiGo resume operations. Senior pilots expressed frustration over working conditions. One said, “Airlines treat us as mere cost-cutting items in their income and expenditure statements during their good days. When it fell on bad days last month, we helped as much as working at 120%. But that could not have gone on indefinitely as we remember how they treat us.” DGCA chief Faiz Ahmed Kidwai urged pilots for cooperation, citing upcoming travel pressures, “As we now approach fog season, peak holiday period, and marriage travel season, it is crucial that the industry prepares for even greater operational challenges. Passenger volumes are expected to rise sharply, and weather-related impacts may further complicate scheduling and flight safety. Given this situation, we earnestly request full cooperation of all pilot bodies, associations, and pilots across India.“ IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers admitted the crisis had affected passenger confidence but said normal operations could return between 10 and 15 December.
