Government Partially Rolls Back New Flying Rules After IndiGo Meltdown Triggers Nationwide Chaos

India’s aviation regulator has partially rolled back a key element of the newly introduced flying duty norms after IndiGo’s operations spiralled into a nationwide crisis for the third day in a row. The revised crew rostering rules — part of the second phase of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL 2.0) — had severely disrupted crew availability and triggered one of the worst operational meltdowns the airline has faced.

Passengers stranded as cancellations pile up

Across India’s biggest airports, chaos unfolded as thousands of passengers found themselves stranded without clear communication or timelines. Terminals in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad were overwhelmed, with flyers waiting on the floor with children, tracking misplaced baggage, and repeatedly checking displays for flights that kept getting delayed or abruptly cancelled.

Many international travellers worried about visas expiring, missing job deadlines abroad and losing connecting flights.

Gurnaam Singh, travelling to Canada, described the experience as an "ordeal", saying that hours of uncertainty left passengers helpless. Flyers to Dubai, China and Toronto reported similar frustration as flights kept showing “technical delays” before being pushed further into the night.

Stories of confusion and distress

Several passengers said IndiGo offered little assistance. A father dropping off his daughter saw her 2 pm flight finally depart at 11:30 pm. Another traveller watched his 6 pm flight slip to 11:30 pm, still unsure it would take off.

Advocate Shweta Kapoor narrated a night of complete chaos at Delhi Airport: check-in counters operating but no IndiGo staff at service desks, baggage stuck despite cancellations, and flights rescheduled multiple times before being silently removed from the app by morning.

In Hyderabad, the confusion intensified when a passenger was told her flight was cancelled — only to receive a call later from the boarding gate asking why she was not boarding.

Nationwide shutdown: 600 more cancellations today

The disruption deepened on Friday with nearly 600 cancellations, after more than 550 flights were cancelled the previous day. Delhi airport cancelled all 235 IndiGo flights scheduled until midnight Saturday. Mumbai logged over 100 cancellations as well.

IndiGo admitted to the DGCA that the chaos emerged from miscalculations and planning errors during the rollout of FDTL 2.0. The airline warned of continued cancellations until December 8, after which a scaled-down schedule is expected.

It has projected that full normalcy will return only by February 10, 2026.

For stranded passengers, however, these assurances offer little comfort. Their immediate reality remains grounded aircraft, stranded baggage, missed commitments — and an airline struggling to regain control of its network.