DGCA slaps ₹22.2 crore fine on IndiGo for massive flight disruptions in December

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday said that it has imposed a fine of Rs 22.2 crore on IndiGo Airlines for the massive disruptions in its services in December last year.

The fine includes a daily penalty for 68 days of non-compliance, a one-time systemic penalty of Rs 1.8 crore. Additionally, the airline will also have to pay a bank guarantee of Rs 50 crore.

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In a statement, the DGCA said, “Following the large-scale delays and cancellations reported by M/s IndiGo during the period from 3rd to 5th December 2025—resulting in the cancellation of 2,507 flights and delays of 1,852 flights and causing inconvenience to over three lakh passengers stranded at various airports, on the directions of MoCA, a four-member Committee was constituted by DGCA to undertake a comprehensive review and assessment of the circumstances leading to the operational disruptions of M/s IndiGo.”

The regulator said that the four-member committee conducted a detailed inquiry into the IndiGo mess and thoroughly studied the airline’s rostering, planning, and software deployed for the same.

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In its inquiry, the committee observed that the airline’s management failed to “adequately identify planning deficiencies, maintain sufficient operational buffer, and effectively implement the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) provisions.”

It further noted that this led to widespread flight delays and large-scale cancellations, causing inconvenience to lakhs of passengers.

“Crew rosters were designed to maximise duty periods, with increased reliance on dead-heading, tail swaps, extended duty patterns, and minimal recovery margins,” the statement read.

Responding to the fine, IndiGo said that it was committed to taking full cognizance of the orders and will take appropriate measures in a timely manner.

“Additionally, an in-depth review of the robustness and resilience of the internal processes at IndiGo has been underway since the disruption to ensure that the airline emerges stronger out of these events in its otherwise pristine record of 19+ years of operations,” the Indigo statement read.

The DGCA action comes more than a month after massive disruptions in IndiGo’s flight operations at several airports across the country. According to the regulator, IndiGo witnessed 2,507 flight cancellations and 1,852 delays between December 3 and 5.

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However, the number of flight cancellations and delays throughout the month were much more and left tens of thousands of passengers stranded across multiple airports.

The airline attributed the disruptions to a combination of issues, including technical glitches, adverse weather conditions and crew shortage.