Over the last few days, chaos has ruled airports across India. IndiGo, India's largest airline, has been grappling with one of its most serious operational disruptions in recent years. The disruption left thousands of passengers stranded and triggered long queues at terminals. 1983 World Cup winner Madan Lal was also among those affected. He was left stranded in Mumbai for 12 hours. "My flight was delayed by 12 hours from Mumbai. Nobody cares in our country for the people. The airport was like a fish market," he posted on X.
My flight was delayed by 12 hours from Mumbai. No body care in our country for the people's .Air Port was like fish market.
— Madan Lal (@MadanLal1983) December 5, 2025
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled on Friday, the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline in the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also mentioned that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.
"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said.
IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.
Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience caused by delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.
The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that increase pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps."
Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.
"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs. For this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information on refunds, cancellations, and other customer support measures was sent," he said.
