IndiGo Crisis: With IndiGo grounding its majority of its fleet on Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the fiasco is a result of the Narendra Modi government’s monopoly model. The Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said that it’s the ordinary Indians who are paying the price. Meanwhile, IndiGo issued a fresh statement apologising to the passengers and saying that it’s doing all that is necessary to reboot systems and schedules for progressive improvement starting tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation partially rolled back its new leave norm, bringing a relief for IndiGo and sparking hope that the crisis will be resolved soon.
DGCA Withdraw Rules
In a statement, DGCA said, “Whereas, reference is invited to the above-mentioned letter, specifically to the paragraph stipulating that “no leave shall be substituted for weekly rest”; and, Whereas, in view of the ongoing operational disruptions and representations received from various airlines regarding the need to ensure continuity and stability of operations, it has been considered necessary to review the said provision; Now, therefore, the instruction contained in the referenced paragraph that no leave shall be substituted for weekly rest is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect.”
The withdrawal of the clause that no leave shall be substituted for weekly rest is likely to give a breather to the airlines, making more workforce available for operations.
Social Media Blames Indigo
However, social media users alleged that the IndiGo crisis is manufactured to blackmail the government.
“IndiGo blackmailed @DGCAIndia – and they succumbed. Shameful absenteeism (collusion?) by @RamMNK. FDTL rules & pilot shortages didn’t come overnight. There needs to be harsh measures against @IndiGo6E by @PMOIndia. There have to be criminal consequences for extortion & blackmail,” said one user.
Indigo blackmailed @DGCAIndia – and they succumbed. Shameful absenteeism (collusion?) by @RamMNK. FDTL rules & pilot shortages didn’t come overnight. There need to be harsh measures against @IndiGo6E by @PMOIndia. There have to be criminal consequences for extortion & blackmail. https://t.co/2ztjbmvBvJ
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) December 5, 2025
“Cancellations weren’t random — they were strategic. Domestic flights took the maximum hit. International flights were largely protected — estimated to be less than 10% cancellations, mostly on connecting legs — because these routes deliver USD revenue, higher yields, lower fuel uplifting costs, and cancelling overseas flights triggers tougher passenger compensation rules under foreign regulations and reputational issues. In short, they shielded profitable high margin international routes and sacrificed low-margin domestic sectors, creating visible pain for flyers and public pressure — a convenient backdrop to justify a push for FDTL rollback. That’s not random chaos — that’s calculated strategic planning,” said another user.
https://x.com/6ESinger157593/status/1996669019445960912
Another user highlighted, “So @DGCAIndia is now forced to roll back its decision that ensured crew members get proper breaks and aren’t overworked, a move meant to prevent accidents. But instead of hiring more staff, airlines chose to delay and cancel flights just to harass common people. Just wow! This is nothing but broad-daylight blackmailing. The Govt should invite new players into the sector asap and end the monopoly of existing airlines.”
So @DGCAIndia is now forced to roll back its decision that ensured crew members get proper breaks and aren’t overworked, a move meant to prevent accidents.
But instead of hiring more staff, airlines chose to delay and cancel flights just to harass common people.
Just wow! This…
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) December 5, 2025
“IndiGo logic: New DGCA rule gives pilots 12 extra hours rest per week, which caused a sudden pilot shortage leading to 1000+ cancellations. 60% market share giant can’t hire 200 more pilots in 18 months of notice? Air India – normal operations, Akasa – normal, Vistara – normal. This has caused Airports in chaos. DGCA gave 6-18 months transition period. Air India hired 500+ pilots in advance. IndiGo hired almost none and kept expanding routes,” said another user.
https://x.com/akhilpachori/status/1996763005925925139
“Anyone with basic brains can figure out what Indigo did was very intentional. This was not sudden disruption, this was almost a planned strike to strongarm the government into giving it what it wants. What people went through doesn’t matter to them, it’s just collateral damage. And the fact that govt let this happen is on them. The fact that we essentially have monopolistic/duopolistic situations in so many major sectors is on this Government. But what to do, let’s look for ways to blame RaGa on this too….IndiGo, with 60%+ market share and near-total control over major slots and terminals (BLR T1, DEL T2, BOM T1 etc.), engineered massive visible disruption at the worst possible time to scream at the government — “If you make our lives difficult with these new rules, we will make the entire country’s air travel hell,” said another user.
https://x.com/AbijitG/status/1996855084999745584
IndiGo Reacts
However, IndiGo said that it’s ‘truly sorry and we will take care’. “We do deeply apologize and understand how difficult the past few days have been for many of you. While this will not get resolved overnight, we assure you that we will do everything in our capacity to help you in the meantime and to bring our operations back to normal at the earliest….Today should be the day with highest number of cancellations, as we are doing all that is necessary to reboot all our systems and schedules for progressive improvement starting tomorrow. Our teams are working to reinstate regular operations in alignment with the Ministry and DGCA. Short-term proactive cancellations are being made to ease operations, decongest the airports to prepare for starting stronger tomorrow,” said IndiGo.
pic.twitter.com/ckhaWnbo86
— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) December 5, 2025
It furhter announced that all refunds for cancellations will be processed automatically to your original mode of payment. “We will offer full waiver on all cancellations/reschedule requests of your bookings for travel between 05 December 2025 to 15 December 2025. Thousands of hotel rooms across cities and surface transport have been arranged for the convenience of our customers. We are trying to ensure that food and snacks are being provided to our waiting customers at the airports. Lounge access is being arranged for senior citizens, wherever possible,” said the airline.
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