With IndiGo cancelling over 1,000 flights on Friday owing to crew shortage as the second phase of the pilots flight duty and rest period norms kicked in, huge capacity was out of the market, leading to airfares tripling and quadrupling from over the normal range, a travel industry executive said.
The domestic airlines industry is estimated to have posted losses to the tune of over Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in the previous fiscal, nearly 18 per cent down from a year ago.
IndiGo is operating 1,650 flights of its 2,300 daily domestic and international flights on Sunday, and 650 remain cancelled for the day, amid the airline's operations gradually stabilising after massive disruptions in the last five days, the airline said.
Pilots' body Airlines' Pilots Association (ALPA) India on Friday took 'strong' objection to safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)'s 'selective and unsafe' relief to domestic carrier IndiGo, amid widescale cancellations, saying the decision sets a dangerous precedent.
'Neither do the Israelis. The two attacking parties have very little economic interest in Hormuz.'
India's new manufacturing project announcements more than halved in the fourth quarter of FY26, falling 60 per cent sequentially and 78 per cent year-on-year to approximately 1.7 trillion, driven by global uncertainties, geopolitical conflicts in West Asia, and existing unutilised manufacturing capacity.
The flight was taking off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport when the incident took place.
Failure to reinstate salary even two years after the drastic cuts has landed the airline industry in a massive industrial relation crisis. While employees of Air India had organised a strike back in 2011, it is for the first time that private airlines are facing serious stress related to workers. IndiGo witnessed two of them, back to back. In the first instance, around 50 per cent of the IndiGo flights were delayed as a large number of crew members went on mass sick leave, apparently to participate in a rival airline's walk-in job interview.
Indigo airlines cancelled 13 flights from Hyderabad airport, causing chaos and frustration among passengers. The cancellations were attributed to technology and operational issues.
IndiGo is only behind Qatar Airways, which grew slightly faster at 10.4 per cent in the same period, according to the latest data from Official Airline Guide (OAG) based on 20 top airlines in the world.
DGCA provided temporary relief to IndiGo, which is partially owned by Rahul Bhatia, by rolling back the night duty definition to 12 am-5 am from 12 am-6 am earlier, and allowing its pilots to do six night-landings from two earlier, besides other relaxations.
The aircraft was taken to a separate bay (Bay No 95) for parking and passengers later safely disembarked. Currently, arrangements are being made to replace the windshield, they said.
India's largest airline IndiGo on Thursday reported a 78 per cent decline in December quarter net profit at Rs 549.1 crore as flight disruptions and implementation of the new labour code took a toll on its earnings. The airline reported a net profit of Rs 549.1 crore in the October-December quarter, compared with Rs 2,448.8 crore earnings in the year-ago period, according to a company statement.
Phee Teik Yeoh, who has returned to the SIA HQ in Singapore worked hard to make Vistara the airline of choice. New CEO Leslie Thng would have the job of cutting losses while going international.
With the Iran war escalating sharply and crisis deepening in the global energy market, India on Monday unveiled a coordinated plan to support exporters and shippers caught in the fallout.
A passenger from Lahore was mistakenly flown to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, instead of Karachi, Pakistan, due to an airline error. The passenger was eventually deported back to Pakistan after a 15-hour ordeal.
The Gurugram-based carrier, which commands over 65 per cent of India's total domestic traffic, had cancelled over 560 flights from six metro airports alone on Monday.
Delhi airport operator DIAL said operations of all other carriers remain as scheduled.
According to sources, the crisis-ridden airline cancelled 137 flights at Delhi airport and 21 services at Mumbai airport.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled and delayed, leaving passengers stranded at airports as the flight disruptions continued for the fourth day on Friday.
Aviation watchdog DGCA stations personnel at IndiGo's headquarters to monitor flight cancellations, crew deployment, and operational disruptions after thousands of flights were cancelled, causing passenger inconvenience.
IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights on Friday and said operations are expected to normalise in the next 10 days, as the country's largest airline received flight duty norms relaxation from watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which will probe the disruptions that have impacted thousands of passengers for four straight days.
The board of InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of IndiGo, has already set up a crisis management group in the wake of the significant operational disruptions that started on December 2.
The DGCA has formed two specialised teams to internally monitor IndiGo's daily operations.
'The CCI will first need to take a prima facie view on whether IndiGo's role warrants a detailed investigation.'
With 7.64 million seats, the Mumbai-Delhi route in 2025 was the eighth busiest route in the world.
Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports on Thursday, as the Gurugram-based airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.
When missiles fly in this region, they are never just aimed at military targets.
IndiGo has seen its pilots' strength depleting by 378 pilots in the last nine months despite its chief operating officer and Accountable Manager, Isidro Porqueras stating to the DGCA in a letter last December that "the overall impact of implementing the proposed changes above (now-implemented FDTL) norms would amount to an approximate 3 per cent increase in crewing requirements.
Domestic air traffic rose 4.8 per cent on an annual basis to 126.48 lakh in February, while more than 1.55 lakh passengers were affected by flight delays during the same period, according to official data released on Friday. In February, Air India's market share rose to 12.8 per cent from 12.2 per cent while that of IndiGo marginally dipped to 60.1 per cent from 60.2 per cent in January. The domestic air traffic climbed to 126.48 lakh in February compared to 120.69 lakh in the year-ago period, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.
Indian equities declined on Friday, with the benchmark Nifty posting its worst weekly fall since September, as foreign investor sentiment remained weak amid tepid earnings growth and little progress on the India-US trade front.
Rahul Bhatia-controlled domestic carrier IndiGo on Monday cancelled 562 flights from six metro airports, with 150 cancellations originating from Bengaluru airport alone, according to sources.
Where was the Board when a predictable regulatory change brought the country's largest airline to its knees? asks Dr Sudhir Bisht.
Government has rejected a recommendation for a review of the present policy of not allowing foreign airlines to pick stake in domestic carriers, Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.\n\n
Fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) is examining whether the country's largest airline, IndiGo, violated competition norms, a senior official said on Friday amid the carrier facing regulatory scrutiny over significant flight disruptions.
'Given that India underperformed emerging markets by 28 per cent in 2025, the worst performance in over 30 years, the timing of the sharp STT hike could have been better.'
Marico has entered into a definitive agreement with PVR INOX to buy its 93.27 per cent stake in Zea Maize Private Limited (ZMPL), which owns the gourmet popcorn brand 4700BC, in an all-cash transaction worth Rs 226.8 crore.
Flyers faced a double blow as air fares on Air India flights out of Delhi and those of SpiceJet soared past Rs 1 lakh one-way on some routes, and even those showed 'sold out' despite the airlines adding capacity.
Former India defender Ilyas Pasha dead, AIFF, East Bengal condole
The country's largest airline IndiGo on Tuesday reported a loss of Rs 2,582.10 crore in the September quarter as higher forex losses and expenses impacted the bottom line, and it expects to induct the first long range Airbus A321 XLR aircraft in December. The airline, which had a loss of Rs 986.7 crore in the year-ago period, said hedging actions and more revenues in foreign currencies from international operations will help cushion the currency movements.
