NEW DELHI: The Centre has ordered a high-level inquiry by a four-member panel into the nationwide IndiGo flight chaos.
In a statement, the Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu said, "The inquiry will examine what went wrong at Indigo, determine accountability wherever required for appropriate actions, and recommend measures to prevent similar disruptions in the future, ensuring that passengers do not face such hardships again."
The four-member committee comprises Joint Director General Sanjay K Bramhane, Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, Capt Kapil Manglik and Capt Lokesh Rampal. It will submit its findings and recommendations to DGCA within 15 days.
Naidu said, "The Ministry of Civil Aviation has established a 24×7 Control Room (011-24610843, 011-24693963, 096503-91859) that is monitoring the situation on a real-time basis to ensure swift corrective action, effective coordination, and immediate resolution of issues as they arise."
He said that services are expected to be restored completely in the next three days. "Based on the immediate implementation of these directives, we expect that flight schedules will begin to stabilise and return to normal by tomorrow. We anticipate that complete restoration of services will be achieved within the next three days," he said.
Naidu added, "In case of any flight cancellations, the airlines will issue full refunds automatically, without the need for passengers to make any requests. Passengers who are stranded due to prolonged delays will be provided hotel accommodation arranged directly by the airlines."
IndiGo cancelled all departing domestic flights from Delhi airport on Friday amid a third straight day of operational disruptions that left more than 500 flights axed and many others delayed across major airports. Similarly, IndiGo's services from Chennai airport will also remain cancelled till 6 pm.
Amid the massive operational disruptions at IndiGo, aviation watchdog DGCA on Friday eased the flight duty norms by allowing substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period, according to sources.
As per the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms, "no leave shall be substituted for weekly rest", which means that weekly rest period and leaves are to be treated separately.
The clause was part of efforts to address fatigue issues among the pilots.
Citing IndiGo flight disruptions, sources said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided to withdraw the provision 'no leave shall be substituted for weekly rest' from the FDTL norms.
"In view of the ongoing operational disruptions and representations received from various airlines regarding the need to ensure continuity and stability of operations, it has been considered necessary to review the said provision," DGCA said in a communication dated December 5.
The gaps in planning ahead of the implementation of the revised FDTL, the second phase of which came into force from November 1, have resulted in crew shortage at IndiGo and is one of the key reasons for the current disruptions.
Over 500 flights cancelled as passengers protest
IndiGo, which is India’s largest domestic airline, operates 235 flights out of Delhi alone. While Terminal 1 handles roughly 150 flights and T2 about 50, the rest operate from T3.
The cancellation covers a 24-hour period from midnight to 11.59 pm on Thursday, as scenes of protesting passengers were witnessed across all three terminals of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). A large number of passengers crowded counters of Air India, Air India Express and SpiceJet as they sought alternatives.
More than 100 were cancelled at Bangalore airport, while 90 flights were cancelled at the Hyderabad airport. The airline cancelled 30 domestic flights from Goa airport in the morning. There were also cancellations at other airports, and many flights were delayed.
The cancellations plunged airports across the country into chaos as some IndiGo flights faced delays of more than 12 hours. Many passengers staged protests, and some complained of misplaced baggage. "Passengers are upset and angry. They are raising slogans against the airline in frustration. That is definitely happening all over," a Delhi airport official told TNIE.
'Huge backlog of cancelled flights'
Delhi airport operator DIAL said operations of all other carriers remain as scheduled. "IndiGo domestic flights departing from Delhi Airport on 5th December 2025 are cancelled till midnight today (till 23:59 hours)," Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) said in a post on X.
DIAL also said its dedicated on-ground teams are working with all partners to mitigate the disruption and ensure a comfortable passenger experience.
Hundreds of passengers were seen agitating across counters at the IGIA.
"The Central Industrial Security Force which manages security here, has brought in its entire platoon of reserve personnel to manage the situation. Leaves of all CISF cops have also been cancelled," a source told TNIE.
The airline has been asked to open more counters and deploy additional manpower across airports to address passenger queries, he added.
"There is a huge backlog of cancelled flights since Thursday. Baggage of hundreds are stuck and they want to collect them before leaving," the source said. Baggage retrieval is under way across belts but progressing slowly, he added.
Amid a slew of cancellations, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has advised passengers to check their latest flight status before heading to the airport. "IndiGo has reported significant disruptions across its network over the past two days, leading to delays and inconvenience for passengers," the statement reads.
"The airline stated that a combination of unforeseen operational challenges, including minor technical glitches, winter-related weather issues, increased air-traffic congestion, and updated crew rostering norms, has affected its flight schedules. To restore stability, IndiGo has introduced calibrated schedule adjustments for the next 48 hours and is working continuously to normalise operations and improve punctuality," it said.
'Expect stable operations by Feb 2026'
IndiGo has been grappling with operational disruptions due to cabin crew woes and other factors.
Sources TNIE spoke to stated that IndiGo is facing a severe shortage of both cockpit and cabin crew and said it is due to a massive recruitment drive by international airline Emirates at Delhi and Mumbai this week.
However, Indigo attributed the significant disruption to multiple reasons, including unforeseen operational challenges.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation and aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are closely monitoring the situation regarding IndiGo flight disruptions that have been ongoing for the past few days.
On Thursday, IndiGo informed DGCA that it expects to fully restore normal and stable operations only by February 10, 2026.
It said that flight cancellations would continue over the next three days and that it would start scaling down flight operations from December 8 to minimize disruptions.
IndiGo, which operates over 2,200 flights daily, has scored a mere 35% on the punctuality front in operations on December 2, reveals aviation ministry's data -- the worst score among all leading airlines assessed.
An official release from DGCA on Tuesday said a total of 1,232 flights had been cancelled by Indigo in November with 755 of them cancelled due to crew and Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) constraints.