The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has revealed the extent of the disruption caused by IndiGo's operational issues in December 2025, stating that approximately 16.2 lakh domestic flyers were affected. The crisis, triggered by IndiGo's failure to adapt to new flight crew time limitations, led to the cancellation of thousands of flights and significant inconvenience for passengers across the country.

The scheduling crisis began in early December, with IndiGo canceling 2,507 flights and delaying 1,852 others between December 3 and 5 alone. Over the course of about a week, the disruptions affected approximately 11 lakh fliers. The peak of the chaos occurred on December 5, when around 1,600 flights were canceled nationwide, including all departures from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport until midnight. Major hubs like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai faced severe disruptions, leading to chaotic scenes at airports with stranded passengers and unclaimed baggage.

In response to the crisis, the DGCA took a number of actions, including providing IndiGo with a temporary exemption from some of the new regulations until February 2026. The regulatory body also placed caps on airfares and ordered IndiGo to complete all pending refunds for the disrupted flights. Additionally, the Ministry of Civil Aviation ordered an inquiry into the incident and issued a show cause notice to the airline. The DGCA imposed a total penalty amounting to Rs 22.20 crore for the non-compliance for 68 days, from December 5, 2025, to February 10, 2026. This included a financial penalty of Rs 30 lakh for the airline's failure to establish a scheme for compliance with flight time limits and another Rs 30 lakh penalty for failure of accountable management. IndiGo was also ordered to pledge a bank guarantee of Rs 50 crore to the DGCA to ensure compliance with directives.

IndiGo, which held a domestic market share of over 60% before the crisis, saw its market share fall to 59.6% in December, from 63.6% in November. The airline has stated that it is taking the DGCA's orders seriously and will take appropriate measures. An "in-depth review" of internal processes has been underway since the disruptions to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Adding to IndiGo's woes, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered an investigation into allegations that the airline engaged in surge pricing after the mass cancellations. The probe was initiated after a flyer claimed that IndiGo offered seats on the same routes at much higher fares after canceling its own services. The regulator has ordered a report within 90 days.

The December disruptions not only affected passengers but also led to a spike in passenger-related complaints. During the month, domestic airlines received 29,212 complaints, with approximately 20.41 complaints per 10,000 passengers carried. Flight delays impacted 8.34 lakh passengers, and airlines spent ₹4.50 crore towards facilitation in December.

IndiGo has offered a "Gesture of Care" (GoC) to customers on eligible flights who were severely impacted by prolonged delays and cancellations between December 3 and 5, 2025. Eligible customers will receive a travel voucher for INR 10,000.

While IndiGo cited a combination of technical glitches, winter schedule changes, bad weather, aviation system congestion, and updated crew rostering rules as causes for the disruptions, critics have pointed to lax planning and over-optimized operations as contributing factors.