Hundreds of Indigo Flights Grounded Amid India Travel Chaos

The carrier, which has a 60% market share in India and flies more than 2,000 flights a day, has been facing pilot shortages after it failed to adapt to new crew rostering rules.

Thousands of passengers are stranded across India in what's a busy travel season, with all IndiGo flights from the capital Delhi cancelled.

IndiGo has said operations will return to full normalcy only by 10 February, and has sought temporary relief on the new rules that call for more rest hours and restricted night-duty.

The airline has also said it will reduce its flight operations to minimize disruptions from 8 December.

The government has said it is closely monitoring the situation with the federal aviation minister expressing "clear displeasure" with how the airline had handled the situation.

In a separate statement, India's aviation regulator said the disruptions were primarily on account of "misjudgment and planning gaps" in implementing the new flight duty time limitation rules.

The regulator has directed IndiGo to submit a detailed plan on crew recruitment, training, roster restructuring, safety-risk assessments and other mitigation measures with immediate effect.

Local media reports say IndiGo has been granted a waiver from the new pilot rest rules, and the ban on combining pilot leave with weekly rest has been eased to stabilize operations. The BBC has not been able to independently verify this.

But the airline has attracted sharp criticism from the Airline Pilots Association of India, which said any relief granted to the airline on duty timings undermines the spirit of the new regulations and "gravely" compromises the safety of the flying public.

Under the new rules, pilots are given more rest, with one of the major changes mandating pilots to make two night-time landings per week, down from six under the old rules.

IndiGo cancels hundreds of flights during India’s busy December, leaving passengers stranded despite waived fees and hotel arrangements. Frustrations mount online, with travelers, including Singapore’s High Commissioner, missing events. Airports urge checking flight status before heading out.”