IndiGo's December disruptions left over 16L passengers stranded: DGCA report

IndiGo's December disruptions left over 16L passengers stranded: DGCA report

IndiGo's flight operations were severely disrupted in December 2025, leaving 16.2 lakh domestic passengers stranded at airports across India.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has now revealed the extent of this disruption through its monthly traffic data for that month.

The report highlights that the non-availability of IndiGo aircraft or crew members was the main reason behind these massive disruptions.

Outright cancellations and delays

The DGCA's report shows that a total of 9.8 lakh passengers were affected by outright flight cancellations, while another 6.4 lakh were stranded due to delays exceeding two hours.

The impact wasn't limited to IndiGo alone; Air India and Air India Express also had their passengers affected by cancellations and long delays.

₹22.7 crore spent on refunds, alternate flights

In light of these disruptions, IndiGo spent around ₹22.7 crore in December on refunds, alternate flights, and other passenger facilitation measures.

However, the airline has not shared details about how many passengers were eligible for compensation or how many have been compensated so far.

This lack of transparency has raised questions among the affected passengers and industry experts alike.

Promises of smooth operations

At a January 29 meeting to review IndiGo's operations, the airline assured it would be able to fly without any disruption even after exemptions to Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations are removed from February 10.

The assurance was based on their claim of having sufficient pilots on the roster.

However, civil aviation expert Captain M Ranganathan remains skeptical about this promise and warns that staffing risks persist despite these assurances.

Staffing risks persist

Captain Ranganathan pointed out that for each domestic flight, an airline should have six pairs of pilots and co-pilots.

He said IndiGo's current fleet still falls short of the required number of pilots under new regulations.

Several pilots also told TOI that low pay remains a major issue in Indian aviation, with one pilot saying "Pilots' salary is very low in India compared to other countries."