New Delhi: Flight schedules will continue to remain affected across the country on Friday with IndiGo announcing the cancellation of over 400 flights. There are likely to be delays as well.
Sources have told PTI that over 220 flights, including departures and arrivals, were cancelled at the Delhi airport, while more than 100 were cancelled at the Bangalore airport. At the Hyderabad airport, over 90 flights were cancelled.
IndiGo said in a statement that its network had been “significantly disrupted” over the past two days and apologised to customers. The airline has informed the DGCA that it will cut flights from December 8 and expects stable operations to be fully restored only by February 10, 2026. The airline admitted that misjudgment and planning gaps in implementing the second phase of Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms triggered the widespread disruptions.
Civil aviation minister K Rammohan Naidu reviewed IndiGo’s mass flight disruptions and directed the airline to urgently stabilise operations while keeping airfares in check. He expressed strong displeasure, saying the airline had ample time to prepare for the new FDTL norms but failed to ensure a smooth transition.
IndiGo, which is India’s largest carrier and commands a domestic market share of over 60 per cent, also requested the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for exemptions from some night operations-related changes in the new FDTL norms for pilots till February 10.
The regulator has not agreed to it so far and asked the airline to submit for review the specific relaxations being sought, but sources indicated that some relief may be on the cards for the airline given the scale of the disruption. IndiGo accepted that it had misjudged its flight crew requirement under the new FDTL rules, which became the primary cause of the disruption.
Under the new FDTL rules, the weekly rest period for pilots has been increased to 48 hours from 36, and night landings have been limited to two from six earlier. The new norms have also extended the definition of night hours and capped consecutive night duties to just two days a week, which has also imposed additional constraints on IndiGo’s operations, as the airline operates a significant number of night-time flights. The new norms were implemented in two phases—from July 1 and November 1.
Meanwhile, passengers are nearing the brunt with long queues and incidents of misplaced baggage being reported from airports all across.
