What’s going wrong with IndiGo flights

New Delhi: IndiGo’s massive wave of cancellations and delays was the result of a sudden shortage of available pilots after new flight-duty rules came into force. These rules changed how long pilots can fly and how much rest they must get, and IndiGo’s schedules were not prepared for the tighter limits.

Under the revised norms, pilots must now receive 48 hours of continuous rest every week, instead of the earlier 36 hours. Night duty has also been redefined as midnight to 6 am, which means more flights fall under night-operation restrictions. Pilots are allowed to perform only two night landings per week, reduced from six earlier, and they cannot be rostered for more than two consecutive night duties.

These limits sharply reduced the number of pilots who were legally allowed to operate flights on any given day.

Once these stricter rules kicked in, IndiGo’s rosters broke down. Many pilots who had been assigned flights no longer met the mandatory rest requirements, and several others had already completed the maximum number of night operations permitted for the week. This left a large part of the pilot pool temporarily unavailable.

The shortage created a chain reaction. When even a few pilots timed out, entire flight rotations had to be cancelled. Since IndiGo runs tightly connected schedules, one cancellation quickly caused many more, and delays spread across major hubs. With not enough pilots who could legally take over, the disruptions grew through the day.

The combination of extended rest hours, limited night operations and stricter flight-time caps made a significant portion of IndiGo’s roster unusable. This directly triggered the airline’s meltdown, leading to hundreds of cancellations, long delays and severe confusion for passengers across the country.