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IndiGo cancelled over 400 flights from four major airports on Saturday, causing continued chaos to the passengers who were already affected by the crisis. The day before, IndiGo cancelled 1,000 flights on Wednesday, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. However, major booking platforms are showing ticket prices easing for travel next week. This comes after the regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), granted airlines a temporary exemption from the strict weekly off rule for pilots, a move aimed at enabling the airline to restore normal scheduling.
Fares had skyrocketed after the mass cancellation of IndiGo flights on Friday, as uncertainty grew after IndiGo’s widespread cancellation of flights across several routes.
Flights resume, but full recovery may take time
The disruption, triggered by a sharp shortage of cockpit crew under the newly implemented Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms, forced IndiGo to ground hundreds of aircraft and cancel flights nationwide. On Friday, the on-time performance dropped dramatically, and all domestic departures from Delhi were cancelled for the day.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Friday issued a public apology acknowledging that the airline faced the most severe impact of flight disruptions on December 5, with well over a thousand, or more than half of their daily flights cancelled and assured that the refund of the fares will be issued within three days.
Fares still volatile but trend points toward correction
The collapse in capacity sent fares soaring on many routes — but booking platforms are now projecting that ticket fares may begin returning to pre-crisis levels soon. Some economy seats on busy routes are already being offered at rates closer to the normal range. Meanwhile, the Central government introduced caps on airfares to offer relief to flyers.
The average pricing of economy class flight tickets offered by multiple flight booking platforms is listed, with a comparison of pre-IndiGo crisis and post-crisis.
| Route | Typical Pre-crisis Economy Fare* | Recent Peak Fares (during disruption) | Forecast: Week 1 (next 7 days) | Forecast: Week 2 (after ~10–14 days) |
| Delhi ↔ Mumbai | ₹ 4,400–6,200 | ₹ 23,500–₹ 46,800 (direct) | ₹ 7,000–10,000 (economy, off-peak slots) | ₹ 5,000–7,000 (return to normal pricing band) |
| Mumbai ↔ Bengaluru | ₹ 3,500–5,700 | Many flights cancelled; one-way costs reached ₹ 45,000–49,000. | ₹ 9,000–12,000 (economy, slowly improving seat availability) | ₹ 6,000–8,000 (normal range) |
| Delhi ↔ Bengaluru | ₹ 6,000–8,000 | Reported spikes up to ₹ 39,000+ on Saturday. (based on earlier reports) | ₹ 10,000–15,000 (if flights resume steadily) | ₹ 6,500–9,000 (pre-crisis norm) |
| Mumbai ↔ Delhi (reverse) | ₹ 8,000–12,000 | Up to ₹ 46,800 or above during surge. | ₹ 7,500–9,500 | ₹ 5,500–7,500 |
Flight ticket projections sourced from makemytrip.com, booking.com, ixigo, and cleartrip.com.
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Centre orders high-level probe
Following the crisis, the Centre ordered a high-level probe to determine the reasons and accountability for flight disruptions. Notably, the crisis stems from new regulations that boost pilots’ weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allowed only two night-time landings per week, down from six and IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to “misjudgment and planning gaps”. So, the government ordered the Flight Duty Limitation (FDTL) norms of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to be placed in abeyance with immediate effect. The civil aviation ministry has taken urgent and proactive measures to address the ongoing disruption in flight schedules, particularly those of Indigo Airlines, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said in a statement
