IndiGo’s flight operations between the UAE and India showed significant signs of recovery on Sunday following a weekend of severe disruptions that had left passengers facing delays exceeding 10 hours. The airline’s performance improved markedly with many flights departing and arriving on schedule, while others experienced manageable delays ranging from 15 to 90 minutes.
Key routes demonstrated this stabilization: the Ras Al Khaimah to Hyderabad flight departed precisely at its scheduled 2:30 AM time, while the Sharjah-Lucknow service took off as planned at 2:00 AM. The Dubai-Chennai route also operated according to its timetable. Minor delays affected some services, including the Dubai-Mumbai flight (15 minutes late) and the Delhi-Dubai route (17 minutes behind schedule). However, one notable exception was the Dubai-Kozhikode flight, which departed nearly ten hours late at 12:44 PM instead of its original 3:20 AM scheduled time.
Domestically within India, the situation showed progressive improvement. On the sixth day of operational challenges, IndiGo canceled 500 domestic flights—a substantial reduction from Saturday’s 700 cancellations and Friday’s 1,000 grounded flights. The airline announced it was operating approximately 1,650 flights on Sunday, up from 1,500 the previous day. Most impressively, on-time performance surged from 30% to 75% within a single day.
The crisis originated when India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation implemented new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) on Tuesday, mandating 48 hours of weekly rest for pilots and limiting night landings to two per week instead of the previous six. These regulations, initially introduced in 2024 to address pilot fatigue concerns, created immediate staffing challenges.
In response to the escalating situation, India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation suspended the new FDTL directives on Friday while emphasizing that safety standards would remain uncompromised. The government additionally imposed airfare caps to protect consumers from price gouging during the disruption period.
The widespread cancellations had generated significant public outrage throughout the week, with numerous passengers missing critical events including weddings, funerals, and professional opportunities. One entrepreneur publicly shared her distress after relatives couldn’t attend her father’s funeral due to the cancellations.
Accountability measures are now underway, with a committee formed to investigate the root causes of the disruptions. A parliamentary panel is scheduled to question IndiGo’s senior management about the operational crisis. The airline has committed to full waivers for cancellation and rescheduling requests for bookings through December 15 as it processes approximately Rs6,100 million in passenger refunds.