IndiGo Delays In India Snarl Domestic Flights

India's domestic flyers now face a messy week of schedule changes on IndiGo and other carriers, because pilot fatigue rules and an unrelated IT outage have converged into widespread cancellations and delays at major hubs. At least 150 IndiGo flights have already been cancelled, with on time performance dropping to about 35 percent on 2 December 2025 at airports like Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM), Kempegowda International Airport (BLR), and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (HYD). Anyone connecting to or within India over the next few days should treat itineraries as fragile, add buffer time, and be ready to rebook or switch carriers.

In practical terms, IndiGo delays in India domestic flights are likely to continue as new fatigue rules, a very concentrated market share, and the 3 December 2025 check in outage feed into each other, especially on busy trunk routes between the major metros and tourist gateways.

What Is Driving IndiGo's Latest Wave Of Disruption

IndiGo is India's largest airline by far, carrying more than 60 percent of the domestic market and operating roughly 2,300 to 2,700 flights a day, according to recent regulator and industry data. That scale means any scheduling problem at IndiGo immediately becomes a system level issue for the whole country.

Over the last few days, multiple sources including Reuters, national newspapers, and airport authorities report that IndiGo has cancelled at least 150 flights nationwide, with one snapshot showing 62 cancellations at Bengaluru alone and dozens more at Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. On time performance, which normally sits above 80 percent, collapsed to around 35 percent on 2 December, the weakest among Indian airlines.

IndiGo's own statements frame the problem as the product of "technology issues, airport congestion, and operational requirements," and the airline says it is offering alternate flights or refunds where applicable while trying to stabilise the schedule within about forty eight hours. However, those operational requirements are now being heavily shaped by new pilot fatigue rules that took effect in phases this year.

How India's New Fatigue Rules Are Squeezing Schedules

India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, brought in a new Flight Duty Time Limitation regime on 1 July 2025, with a second phase including some relaxations starting on 1 November. The rules increase minimum rest, require a dedicated "fatigue off" period of at least 24 hours including one local night after certain patterns of duty, and force airlines to add annual fatigue training and data reporting for pilots and schedulers.

The intent is straightforward, regulators want to reduce the risk of accidents linked to long duty hours and chronic fatigue in the cockpit. In practice, airlines that built their growth on dense domestic schedules now have fewer legal hours to work with, especially for peak morning and late night banks of flights. IndiGo and other carriers initially pushed back on the new norms, warning that they would need more pilots or a trimmed schedule to stay compliant.

What is playing out this week looks very much like that pressure hitting the real world. When weather, congestion, or a tech problem push a block of flights out of their planned time windows, crew who were legal at the start of the day can simply time out under the new rules. Once enough pilots or cabin crew drop out for fatigue reasons, an airline with IndiGo's scale is forced into a cycle of cancellations and "calibrated schedule adjustments" that can take days to unwind.

What The 3 December IT Outage Changed

On top of the structural fatigue issue, Indian airports were hit on the morning of 3 December by a third party IT problem that affected check in systems used by several airlines. Airports and local media report that airlines including IndiGo, SpiceJet, Akasa Air, and Air India Express had to switch to manual check in and boarding at multiple airports after passengers were warned that "Microsoft Windows reports major service outages globally" and that airport systems were impacted.

At Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, that outage contributed to delays for around 58 flights in a single day, according to regional reporting, with long queues and ad hoc manual processes at the counters. Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International also reported disruption during the morning peak on 3 December as flights backed up from the previous day's issues.

Although the third party system was later reported as restored, airlines and airports warned that some delays would continue until schedules "fully normalise." When an airline is already stretched by fatigue constraints and crew availability, even a short IT outage can cascade through the rest of the day's rotations.

Where Delays Are Worst Right Now

The pattern so far is that the biggest pain is at the largest hubs where IndiGo concentrates capacity and where any small disruption has few easy workarounds.

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International sees long queues and multiple hour delays on domestic departures, with airport operators publicly flagging "operational challenges" at certain domestic airlines and warning of schedule changes.

Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International has seen more than thirty IndiGo cancellations in a single day and delays on most remaining departures, with passengers describing waits of five to ten hours and crowded terminals.

Bengaluru's Kempegowda International is suffering a double hit, fatigue related cancellations and the IT outage, with reports of at least forty to sixty IndiGo flights cancelled and dozens more delayed, plus the 58 IT related delays described above.

Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International and other busy stations such as Chennai and Kolkata are also seeing knock on disruption as aircraft and crews are re threaded through the system.

For visitors, that pattern means any domestic connection through one of these four metros deserves special caution, especially if it is the last flight of the day to a resort destination or a smaller regional airport.

What This Means For Tourists And Domestic Travelers

Because IndiGo carries the majority of domestic passengers in India, the current disruption does not just affect business flyers on the big city pairs. It hits tourists trying to reach Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan, or the Himalayas, and it hits Indian travelers connecting from an international arrival onto a separate domestic ticket. Tight same day connections without protection now carry a much higher misconnect risk.

IndiGo and other affected carriers are offering alternative flights or refunds where they cancel services, and India's consumer rules expect airlines to return fares or arrange equivalent transport when cancellations are under the carrier's control. However, the practical problem in a crunch period is seat availability, especially on popular holiday routes or peak time flights that are already close to full.

Travel insurance with trip interruption coverage can help absorb the cost of extra hotel nights or replacement tickets, but only if bought before problems become publicly known and only if the policy does not exclude operational issues. Many budget domestic tickets also carry change fees or fare differences that can add up rapidly when trying to reroute late.

Concrete Planning Advice For The Next Few Days

For travelers already in India, the safest approach is to treat any IndiGo itinerary, or any itinerary that uses IndiGo as the main domestic leg, as potentially volatile until the airline has a full day or two of stable operations. That means:

Arrive at the airport earlier than usual, especially at the four main hubs. With manual workarounds still in place at some stations and queues longer than normal, arriving three hours before a domestic departure is sensible for now.

Avoid last departures of the day when possible, particularly to leisure destinations like Goa or Kochi, or to smaller regional airports that do not have late night alternatives. If disruptions cascade, last flights are often the first to be cancelled with limited options to reaccommodate until the next morning.

Break up complex trips. If you are connecting from a long haul arrival into India onto a separate IndiGo domestic ticket, seriously consider an overnight in Delhi, Mumbai, or Bengaluru instead of a tight same day connection. A hotel night is cheaper and less stressful than a missed onward flight and a scramble for last minute seats.

Use through tickets where they are reasonably priced. If your international carrier can sell you a ticket that includes the domestic leg on a single booking, that gives you stronger protection when things go wrong, even if IndiGo is the operating airline.

Monitor your flights aggressively. IndiGo is asking passengers to check its website or app before leaving for the airport, and social media feeds from airlines and airports have been the earliest source of information about rolling delays.

Finally, carry essential items in hand luggage, including medications, chargers, and a change of clothes. With some passengers reporting five to ten hour waits inside terminals, having basics on hand is a practical comfort, not just a nice to have.

How This Fits Into India's Bigger Aviation Story

India is trying to turn itself into a major global aviation hub, with rapid growth at Delhi and Mumbai, new terminals at Bengaluru and other cities, and aggressive long haul expansion by both IndiGo and the Air India group. That ambition relies on tight domestic feed working reliably behind the scenes.

This week's IndiGo chaos does not mean that ambition is doomed, but it is a clear stress test of how much slack exists in the current system. A market where one airline holds more than 60 percent of domestic capacity, and another group holds more than a quarter, leaves little room for competitors to absorb passengers when the dominant carrier stumbles.

For travelers, the lesson is straightforward. India remains an extraordinary country to visit, but itineraries that treat domestic flights as plug and play components are increasingly vulnerable to operational shocks, whether those shocks come from new safety rules, a third party IT incident, or simple congestion at airports that are running close to capacity.

Sources

• [India's IndiGo reports flight delays, cancellations due to tech issues, congestion, Reuters][1]
• [IndiGo, SpiceJet flights delayed as tech outage affects check in system at airports, Mint][2]
• [DGCA tightens fatigue rules, mandates airlines to train roster planners and file quarterly reports, Economic Times][3]
• [IndiGo tops market share and punctuality, FlyBig sees most cancellations, DGCA data, NDTV][4]
• [58 flights delayed at KIA due to third party system disruption, New Indian Express][5]