IndiGo share price slips over 2% as airline cancels over 100 flights on crew woes; check what the company said

Last seen, the stock was down 2% at ₹5,482 on the NSE.

According to a PTI report, IndiGo cancelled more than 100 flights at various airports, and scores of services were delayed on Wednesday as the country's largest airline grappled with significant operational disruptions, mainly due to crew shortages.

Aviation watchdog DGCA said it was investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation as well as the plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

As part of the calibrated adjustments announced by IndiGo, there will be cancellations and rescheduling of flights, PTI reported, quoting sources, on Wednesday, a day when airports witnessed chaos as hundreds of passengers faced hardships due to services getting cancelled and delayed for long.

What IndiGo said

The airline, which operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily, on Wednesday said a "multitude of unforeseen operational challenges" have significantly disrupted its operations across the network for the past two days and apologised to the passengers for the inconvenience.

The challenges include "minor technology glitches, schedule changes linked to the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system and the implementation of updated crew rostering rules (Flight Duty Time Limitations), which had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated," an airline spokesperson said in a statement.

PTI reported that over 100 IndiGo flights were cancelled at various airports, including Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad. At least 42 flights were cancelled at the Bangalore airport, 38 at the Delhi airport, 33 at the Mumbai airport and 19 at the Hyderabad airport, they added.

Besides, scores of flights were delayed.

"IndiGo has been facing an acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source told PTI.

Citing recent operational performance information provided by IndiGo, DGCA said a total of 1,232 flights were cancelled in November, including 755 flights due to crew and FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) constraints.

As many as 258 flights were cancelled due to "airport/airspace restrictions", 92 flights were cancelled due to the ATC (Air Traffic Control) system failure and 127 flights on account of other reasons, the statement said.

What are FDTL norms?

The latest 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.

On Wednesday, IndiGo said it has initiated calibrated adjustments to the schedules to contain the disruption and restore stability. The airline did not share any specific numbers.

These measures will remain in place for the next 48 hours and will allow the airline to normalise operations and progressively recover punctuality across the network, it said.