New Delhi: Over the past four days, more than 1,700 Indigo flights have been cancelled, leaving thousands of flyers stranded and airports across India in chaos. Delays have compounded frustration, as the country’s largest airline operates around 2,200 flights daily and controls more than 60% of the domestic aviation market. Following this sudden disruption, Indigo’s market capitalisation has reportedly fallen by nearly Rs 21,000 crore.
The story of Indigo’s meteoric rise and its current struggles begins more than three decades ago. In 1984, a Delhi-based engineering graduate returned from Canada with dreams of starting a telecom business in India. The regulatory environment at the time, however, was unfavourable to foreign technology partnerships, forcing him to set aside that plan.
Coming from a middle-class family, he instead joined the family business, a travel agency founded in 1964, after challenges with partners. His father’s declining health made his involvement necessary.
By the early 1990s, the Indian government began issuing private airline licenses, opening doors for new players in the aviation sector. The entrepreneur took his time, carefully crafting a strategy rather than rushing into the market.
He found a partner in an NRI executive with decades of international airline experience, whose expertise would later prove crucial in securing aircraft and negotiating favorable deals.
The airline officially entered the market in 2004 with the establishment of InterGlobe Aviation Limited, with both founders holding equal stakes. Despite high fuel prices and a depreciating rupee, they pursued an ambitious strategy.
In 2005, at an airshow in Paris, the airline stunned observers by placing an order for 100 Airbus A320 aircraft valued at over Rs 5 lakh crore (around $6.5 billion), despite the founders having invested only a fraction of that amount.
Leveraging one partner’s longstanding industry connections, Indigo secured the planes on credit, paying only a 4% down payment and receiving a 40% discount. The first aircraft took two years to prepare for commercial service.
On August 4, 2006, the airline launched its inaugural flight from Delhi to Guwahati, beginning a transformation of India’s aviation landscape. Within four years, Indigo surpassed Air India to capture a 17.3% market share, quickly rising to become one of the country’s leading carriers.
The airline’s business model focussed on efficiency and cost-cutting. Indigo eliminated free meals on flights and operated only economy-class seating, accommodating 180 passengers per plane. Ground staff were trained to disembark passengers within six minutes and load luggage in 10, ensuring aircraft turnaround times of just 25 minutes.
Over time, disagreements emerged between the two founders on the issue of expansion and corporate governance. One founder favoured rapid growth, planning to increase the fleet by 52% in a single fiscal year, while the other preferred a cautious and measured approach.
The rift eventually widened, resulting in the resignation of one founder in 2022, after years of tension that included accusations of personal gain and letters to regulatory authorities.
Today, Indigo operates more than 2,200 flights daily, including over 90 domestic and 40 international routes. Its fleet consists of 417 aircraft, giving it a 61.4% market share in India, meaning six out of every 10 Indian passengers fly with Indigo. The airline retires its planes every six years, maintaining a relatively young fleet.
The recent crisis, however, exposed vulnerabilities. Starting December 2, flights departing from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru began experiencing cancellations, affecting 50-70 domestic flights on the first day. On-time performance plummeted to just 35%, far below competitors like SpiceJet, which maintained 82%.
The disruptions spread over the next few days, with delays and cancellations extending to smaller airports such as Pune and Goa. Social media was flooded with passenger complaints and videos showing long queues and empty counters, while fares on popular routes soared from Rs 10,000 to as high as Rs 40,000.
By December 4, approximately 800 flights were cancelled, and domestic operations in Delhi were halted for the night. Passengers in cities like Bhopal, Pune and Gorakhpur faced prolonged waits, impacting families, travellers heading to weddings and passengers with young children and elderly dependents.
On December 5, over 1,000 flights were grounded as chaos continued at major airports, with passengers struggling for food, water and essentials. Indigo has stated that it expects operations to normalise only by December 15.
Meanwhile, fares on alternative airlines have surged up to 10 times their normal rates as travellers scramble to secure tickets.
The crisis has raised questions about planning and management at India’s largest airline. Aviation experts suggest that while Indigo’s rapid rise was built on strategic credit arrangements and aggressive cost-cutting, the present disruption highlights the challenges of maintaining such a vast network with a limited workforce.
‘We’re Getting Back’
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Sunday announced that the airline is recovering from recent disruptions and aims to operate about 1,650 flights to address cancellations and delays caused by new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules.
As part of its return to normalcy following issues with new pilot rest rules that caused cancellations, he conveyed a message of “step by step, we are getting back”, thanking staff and assuring customers that ongoing efforts are underway to restore full service.
In a video message from the airline’s operational control centre at Gurugram, IndiGo CEO said, “In my earlier messages, I conveyed we would be rebooting the system on Friday, take a significant number of cancellations and start afresh on Saturday. That has worked well, with some 1,500 flights operated yesterday compared to only 700ish on Friday. Also, we have been able to execute cancellations earlier, so customers don’t show up at the airport if their flights are cancelled. It gives us all the confidence that step by step, we are getting back.”
He further added that IndiGo expects operations to improve further, allowing the airline to increase the number of flights to around 1,650.
“Today, we realise further improvements of the system in order to reach around 1,650 flights. A better OTP, less cancellations and importantly, customers are being notified in advance,” Elbers said.
He projected Sunday’s on-time performance at around 75%, significantly up from 30% on the previous day. “The network coverage has been restored with 137 stations operated,” he added.
On customer handling, he said processes for refunds, luggage and rebooking are in full swing, and the backlog is being reduced. He also thanked government agencies and aviation stakeholders. At the end of his video message, he added, “I am confident that we will emerge stronger from here.”
The recent significant disruption to IndiGo flights was primarily caused by the airline’s failure to prepare for and comply with new and stricter pilot rest regulations or FDTL, which came into effect on November 1, 2025.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: ZEE News
