IndiGo share price declines 2%: Airline cancels over 70 flights due to crew shortages

The stock was in the red amid news reports that IndiGo had cancelled over 70 flights, including those from Bengaluru and Mumbai airports, on Wednesday, mainly due to crew shortages.

IndiGo said there have been cancellations and delays.

"We have had several unavoidable flight delays and some cancellations in the past few days due to various reasons, including technology issues, airport congestion, and operational requirements," the airline spokesperson said in a statement.

IndiGo's on-time performance from six key domestic airports plummeted to 35% on Tuesday, whereas Air India clocked 67.2%, Air India Express 79.5%, SpiceJet 82.50% and Akasa Air 73.20%, according to the Civil Aviation Ministry website.

The latest flight duty time limitation (FDTL) norms, which entail increasing weekly rest periods to 48 hours, extending night hours, and limiting the number of night landings to only two, as opposed to six earlier, were initially opposed by the domestic airlines, including IndiGo and Tata Group-owned Air India.

But they were subsequently rolled out by the DGCA following the Delhi High Court's directives, albeit after a delay of over one year and in a phased manner and with certain variations for airlines like IndiGo and Air India.

While the first phase of these FDTL norms came into force in July, the second phase, which restricted the night landing to two from six earlier, was implemented from November 1.

The norms were originally to be put in place from March 2024, but airlines, including IndiGo, sought a step-by-step implementation, citing additional crew requirements.

The Gurugram-based airline currently operates around 2,100 domestic and international flights, and a significant chunk of them are at night.

As of December 2, IndiGo had a total of 416 planes in the fleet, with 366 of them in operation and 50 on the ground, up from 47 last month, as per the aircraft fleet tracking website Planespotter.com.

IndiGo upgrades A320 planes

In late November 2025, IndiGo said it had completed the requisite upgrades of 160 A320 family aircraft, and inspections were progressing for the remaining 40 such planes.

The airline also said that no flights were cancelled as a result of these checks. However, a few flights may experience minimal delays.

Airbus had flagged a potential issue related to the flight controls of the A320 family planes due to intense solar radiation, and "airlines are carrying out software upgrades or hardware realignment to address the issue," said a PTI report.

A total of 200 IndiGo aircraft were identified for the checks.

"Working closely with both organisations, a total of 200 of our aircraft were identified for these checks. We are pleased to confirm that the required actions have already been completed on 160 aircraft by 12:00 IST, and inspections on the remaining aircraft are progressing well and will be completed within the timeline," the airline had said in a statement.