IndiGo’s growing dominance in the skies is raising questions about a potential monopoly in India’s aviation sector.
The airline is in trouble, with daily cancellations reaching 170–200 flights, well above the usual number.
On 5th December 2025, several airports experienced significant operational problems:
- Bengaluru Airport reported 52 cancelled arrivals and 50 cancelled departures
- Pune reported 32 flight cancellations
- Delhi reported 135 cancelled departures and 90 cancelled arrivals
- Hyderabad reported 49 cancelled departures and 43 cancelled arrivals
- Srinagar reported cancellations for 10 of its 18 planned flights
- Mumbai reported 53 cancelled departures and 51 cancelled arrivals, taking the total number of cancelled flights at major airports to 523.
These cancellations have caused trouble for passengers and raised safety concerns. IndiGo’s growing dominance and repeated problems have sparked calls for government checks.
Political and regulatory pressure mounts
On Friday, Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the government over IndiGo’s flight disruptions and cancellations, saying the problems are due to a “monopoly model”.
In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi blamed a monopoly in aviation for the recent disruptions and demanded fair competition in the industry.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi moved a notice in the Rajya Sabha today, requesting Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu to address the widespread IndiGo flight disruptions affecting passengers.
She wrote, ‘IndiGo’s flights on Wednesday faced huge delays of up to seven hours and over 70 cancellations at major airports like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad due to crew shortages and other operational issues. Many domestic and international routes, including Mumbai-Maldives, were badly affected, causing major problems for passengers.
She added, ‘This is an urgent issue as thousands of passengers were stranded and airport operations were disrupted. Repeated airline problems show the need for quick government action and measures to prevent this in the future. I urge the Minister to make a statement soon’.
IndiGo has asked for temporary relief from some Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules for its A320 fleet until February 10, 2026, and said it will restore normal operations by that date, the DGCA stated.
In a review on Thursday, the DGCA found that IndiGo’s operational problems were caused by challenges in implementing Phase 2 of the revised FDTL rules, crew-planning gaps, and winter-season issues.
The new fatigue-management rules, introduced following court directions, were applied in two stages on July 1 and November 1, 2025.
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