A little over a month after India’s largest airline, IndiGo, flew into turbulence by cancelling thousands of flights, a government report has shed light on what caused the crisis, absolving the airline of any deliberate wrongdoing.

The crisis saw as many as 2,500 flights cancelled and over 1,800 delayed in the first week of December. In all, over 3 lakh passengers were affected. “The primary causes for the disruption were over-optimisation of operations, inadequate regulatory preparedness, along with deficiencies in system software support and shortcomings in management structure and operational control on the part of IndiGo,” a four-member committee constituted by airline regulator DGCA said in its report.

The committee also observed that the airline’s management, under Pieter Elbers, failed to adequately identify planning deficiencies, maintain sufficient operational buffers, and effectively implement the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) provisions, resulting in inconvenience to passengers.

For IndiGo, the troubles began on December 2, when it started cancelling flights even as passengers experienced inordinate delays, sometimes stretching up to seven hours. By December 5, the situation spiralled out of control in ways even IndiGo hadn’t anticipated. On that day alone, over 1,600 of its scheduled 2,200 flights were cancelled, turning air travel into an absolute nightmare.

Soon enough, the government capped airfares and publicly rebuked the airline and its management over the situation. IndiGo officials were called in for meetings and issued show-cause notices, even as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) put on hold a policy aimed at increasing pilot rest. The crisis was triggered by the implementation of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), which were intended to ensure adequate rest for airline crew.

The report also blamed IndiGo for “an overriding focus on maximising utilisation of crew, aircraft, and network resources, which significantly reduced roster buffer margins.” “Crew rosters were designed to maximise duty periods, with increased reliance on dead-heading, tail swaps, extended duty patterns, and minimal recovery margins,” the report said. “This approach compromised roster integrity and adversely impacted operational resilience.”

IndiGo controls over 65% of the domestic skies, followed by Air India, effectively making it a duopoly. On international routes, IndiGo has also emerged as India’s largest homegrown carrier, making it effectively too big to fail. Over the last few years, the airline has been busy rebranding itself with new offerings such as business-class seats, airline miles, and long-haul international operations. In 2023, IndiGo even beat the country’s oldest airline, Air India, to what can now safely be called the mother of all aviation deals, when it ordered as many as 500 aircraft from France-headquartered Airbus. Today, IndiGo has more than 900 aircraft on order with Airbus, while Air India is awaiting delivery of 570 aircraft.

What does the report mean for IndiGo?

IndiGo’s CEO, Pieter Elbers, has been issued a caution, although there were concerns that he might be asked to step down. The company’s COO, Isidre Porqueras, has also been issued a warning, while Jason Herter, Senior Vice President, has been relieved of his duties.

“Additionally, warnings have also been issued to the deputy head–flight operations, AVP–crew resource planning, and director–flight operations for operational, supervisory, manpower planning, and roster management lapses,” the report said.

Crucially, the airline has also been fined ₹22 crore on various counts, including failure to implement FDTL, failure to strike a balance between commercial imperatives and crew welfare, and improper delegation of operational control, among others. “In addition to the above, IndiGo has been ordered to pledge a bank guarantee of ₹50 crore in favour of DGCA to ensure compliance with the directives and long-term systemic correction,” the report said. “This has been undertaken to ensure that the systemic reforms are closely monitored by MoCA and DGCA, in coordination with IndiGo’s senior management, in the interest of improving the aviation ecosystem.”

In 2025, the Indian government introduced the new FDTL policy mandating increased rest for crew. The policy included changes to total duty time, hours spent flying, special caps on duties covering the midnight-to-early-morning window, minimum breaks between duties, and minimum weekly off-duty time. While the government initially planned to implement FDTL in June 2024, it was deferred following pressure from IndiGo and other airlines, and eventually rolled out in two phases in July and November 2025.

“An in-depth review of the robustness and resilience of internal processes at IndiGo has been underway since the disruption to ensure that the airline emerges stronger from these events in its otherwise pristine record of over 19 years of operations,” IndiGo said in a statement. “IndiGo remains committed to steadfastly serving the needs of India and its people, and plays a humble role in ensuring that the country emerges as a global aviation hub by 2030.”

A word of praise

Meanwhile, the regulator also offered praise for the airline’s swift turnaround after the disruption. IndiGo resumed flights to all destinations by December 9 after rebooting its operations, even as its international operations remained largely unaffected.

“DGCA recognises that the turnaround achieved by IndiGo was notably swift, and the airline was able to restore its operations to normal levels within a very short period of time,” the report said. “DGCA also notes that apart from ensuring timely refunds and CAR compensation to affected passengers, and on the directions of MoCA, IndiGo additionally extended a ‘Gesture of Care’ (GoC) voucher of ₹10,000, valid for 12 months, for flights cancelled or delayed by more than three hours between December 3 and 5, 2025.”

India is the world’s third-largest aviation market, with airports growing from 74 in 2014 to 163 in 2025. The government aims to increase this number to 350–400 by 2047. By 2040, passenger traffic is expected to grow sixfold to around 1.1 billion, while the commercial airline fleet is projected to expand from 400 aircraft in 2014 to around 2,359 by March 2040. Employment generated by the aviation sector is expected to reach around 25 million by 2040.

For now, the turbulence appears to have settled for Elbers and IndiGo. The focus now is on ensuring a smoother flight path ahead.