IndiGo flight operations hit hard: Over 150 flights cancelled, passengers furious after delays up to 12 hours

IndiGo airlines continues to face massive turbulence as flight operations remained severely disrupted for a second consecutive day, leaving thousands of passengers stranded across major airports in India. On Wednesday, more than 150 IndiGo flights were cancelled, while hundreds of others were delayed by up to 12 hours, triggering chaos and frustration nationwide.

The disruption—largely attributed to crew shortages, scheduling issues and operational bottlenecks—spilled over into Thursday morning, prompting angry flyers to take to social media to express their outrage.

Videos shared online showed long queues and passengers scrambling to reschedule flights at major airports including Bengaluru, Pune, and Delhi.

One passenger, Shubham Sharma, posted a video from Pune airport describing how travellers were stuck for hours.

“My IndiGo flight from Pune to Delhi is delayed by more than 3.5 hours. Many have been waiting for over 12 hours,” he wrote.

Another passenger, Sanjay Kalirona, CEO of Gizmore, complained that flight 6E 6409 scheduled at 2:45 AM had still not taken off even by 9:30 AM, with his unwell daughter stuck inside the aircraft.

“It is complete chaos at the airport,” he said.

‘Captain missing’ claims go viral

Investor Anand Sridharan reported that his 7 AM flight was delayed indefinitely because the pilot was missing.

“Staff say the Captain is missing, so flight is indefinitely late. Passengers screaming, others filming to post online,” he wrote.

According to Sridharan, although the captain eventually arrived, the first officer had gone missing, causing further delay.

Ticket prices skyrocket

Adding to the chaos, flyers reported exorbitant fare hikes by other airlines.

“Delhi–Mumbai is now costing the same as Delhi–London,” a user wrote, alleging airlines were capitalising on the crisis.

IndiGo and DGCA respond

IndiGo issued an apology and said it is making “calibrated adjustments” to restore schedules. Meanwhile, the DGCA has demanded a detailed operational disruption report.

What triggered the breakdown?

Sources indicate the chaos was caused by a combination of:

Crew shortage due to new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules

Technical glitches

Weather and airport congestion

Urgent Airbus A320 software patch (Nov 29–30) affecting aircraft availability

IndiGo described the situation as a “significant disruption across the network” over the past two days.