Indian regulator fines IndiGo over December flight chaos, warns top managers

India’s aviation authority, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has slapped IndiGo with a 220 million Rupee fine (US$2.6 million approximately) following an episode of massive operational disruption experienced by the airline in December 2025. 

Additionally, in its ruling on January 17, 2026, the Indian regulator also cautioned the airline’s CEO Pieter Elbers and issued warnings to its COO, the Senior VP responsible for the airline’s Operations Control Center (OCC), who will have to leave his post, as well as a number of other senior managers involved in the December operational meltdown. 

IndiGo has also been required to deposit 500 million rupees (US$6 million) with the DGCA to set up the so-called “IndiGo Systemic Reform Assurance Scheme” (ISRAS). This amount will be progressively returned to the airline as IndiGo rolls out a number of measures to ensure its future operational resilience and minimize the risk of another similar general disruption episode taking place. 

The four-member DGCA committee investigating the case blamed IndiGo for having attempted to overoptimize its schedules and not having set up adequate operational buffers between crew and aircraft rotations. The DGCA also identified shortcomings in the amount of human and technological resources dedicated to guaranteeing the airline’s preparedness to fulfill its winter schedule.  

Over 300,000 of the airline’s passengers were left stranded at airports across India over several days in early December 2025 after IndiGo unexpectedly cancelled more than 1,500 of its flights.  

The reason for these bulk cancellations was reportedly a failure to adapt the carrier’s schedules to new Flight Duty Time limitations (FDTL) introduced by the DGCA which grounded aircraft throughout its entire domestic network. 

As an additional measure, the DGCA has dictated that, in addition to any refunds and regular compensation that affected passengers may be entitled to, IndiGo must also compensate those customers that suffered delays longer than three hours with a 10,000 Rupee voucher (US$100 approximately) valid for a period of 12 months. 

In its ruling, the DGCA also acknowledged that when the episode of disruption occurred IndiGo’s reaction was swift and the carrier managed to mitigate and redress the situation in a relatively short period of time. 

After the DGCA ruling was made public, IndiGo’s management issued a statement acknowledging that it had been received and committing to its implementation. The airline also stated that an internal review is underway in order to correct any deficiencies in its processes and strengthen its operational robustness. 

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