New Delhi: As the chaos over Indigo airlines entered its fifth day, India’s largest domestic carrier accounting for 60 percent passenger traffic, cancelled over 400 flights from four major airports on Saturday until 3 pm.
As cancellations continued, ticket prices skyrocketed, prompting the Centre to introduce a cap on flight tickets. These caps will remain in force until the situation fully stabilises.
Also, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has instructed IndiGo to clear all pending passenger refunds by 8 pm on Sunday. To ensure seamless grievance redressal, IndiGo has been instructed to set up dedicated passenger support and refund facilitation cells. These cells have been tasked with proactively contacting affected passengers and ensuring that refunds and alternative travel arrangements are processed without the need for multiple follow-ups. The automatic refund system will remain active until operations stabilise completely.
The ministry also directed the airline to ensure that all baggage separated from passengers was delivered to addresses of their choice within the next 48 hours.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu has said a probe has been initiated into the IndiGo fiasco and those responsible will “pay for it”. Naidu also said authorities are prioritising bringing back normalcy to civil aviation services and have for now kept their new Flight Duty Time Limitation norms in abeyance.
Delhi sees most cancellations
IndiGo cancelled all domestic flights departing from Delhi Airport until Friday midnight, acknowledging that 5 December was the most severely affected day, with over 1,000 cancellations.
IndiGo CEO Peter Elbers categorically stated that things are expected to return to normal between 10 and 15 December.
“December 5 was the most severely impacted day, with the number of cancellations well over 1,000. I extend our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience it has caused to our customers. It will take some time to return to a full normal situation, which we do anticipate between 10-15 December,” Elbers said in a video message.
But for harried passengers, there seems to be no end to the trauma for now. Complaints of last-minute alerts, lack of communication and long queues continued nationwide.
Delhi Airport recorded one of the highest cancellation counts, with airport authorities confirming that IndiGo’s 54 departures and 52 arrivals—a total of 106 flights—were cancelled until Saturday morning.
Scenes of chaos across airports
The impact was felt prominently in the Northeast, where Assam’s Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati witnessed scenes of chaos. A large number of passengers waited for hours after flights were abruptly grounded.
An Indian Army personnel travelling with his family said they were caught off guard. “I received no intimation until last night. So, I reached here with my children and family. We were going to Silchar. But after we reached here, we came to know that my IndiGo flight was cancelled,” he told ANI.
Another passenger, Sukhchain, said his IndiGo 6.30 pm flight on 5 December was rescheduled for 11 am on Saturday, only to be cancelled.
How do I go home, asks stranded student
Bahaar Khara, a 20-year-old Symbiosis student is stranded in Pune, unable to make the trip to her family in Chandigarh. “My friends have all left after the exams and I am alone here. I was trying to reach Chandigarh on the 10th, but I don’t know what I am going to do now. I want to go home,” she said.
In Mumbai, visuals from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport showed long queues and congested terminals as travellers tried to navigate the uncertainty.
Deepesh Srivastava, who arrived in Mumbai from abroad this morning, said he received no update on his connecting flight. “I was out of India, and I landed here just this morning. I had a flight scheduled for Nagpur at 10.45 am… But this time, I am surprised; when I reached here, they said that the flight is cancelled…IndiGo has not given any further intimation. There is a huge crowd here…”
Some sympathy for Indigo staff
Not all, though, were blaming the airline for the chaos. Actor Sonu Sood has urged passengers to remain “calm” and stop “targeting” airline ground staff.
Sood shared a video message on X condemning the behaviour of passengers who were seen yelling at airline employees. “Friends, this video is a small message for those who have been suffering for the past 2-3 days on IndiGo flights. My own family was travelling, and they had to wait for 4.5-5 hours. Then, the flight finally took off and reached its destination. Many flights didn’t take off, many were cancelled… But the saddest thing was seeing how people were shouting at the ground staff at the airports… Those who are helpless themselves don’t know what the future schedules are… and those who get messages from above can only pass them on to you.”
"A delayed flight is frustrating, but remember the faces trying to fix it. Please be nice and humble to the IndiGo staff; they are carrying the weight of cancellations too. Let’s support them." @IndiGo6E pic.twitter.com/rd3ciyekcS
— sonu sood (@SonuSood) December 6, 2025
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has directed airlines, especially IndiGo, to implement measures immediately to resolve the severe disruption to flight schedules and stabilise services without delay, an official statement said.
The order said, “Full services and stability should return over the next couple of days; Passengers can track delays, if any, from home through information system installed by IndiGo and others; in the event of flight cancellation IndiGo will ensure automatic full refund for tickets.”
“If passengers are stranded, they will be put up at hotels where accommodation has been booked by airlines. Special measures have been taken to ensure senior citizens are not discomfited in any manner. They will be provided with lounge access; Passengers of delayed flights will be provided with refreshments and other necessities; a 24×7 control room at the Ministry of Civil Aviation is constantly monitoring the situation,” the order read.
Northern Railways steps in
Meanwhile, Northern Railways has stepped in to ease travel chaos by adding extra coaches to popular services and running special trains to high-demand destinations. Additional coaches have been added to key Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains and special trains to Sabarmati, Mumbai, Howrah, Patna, Darbhanga, and Thiruvananthapuram have been added to address the surge in rail travel.
Already, the situation is beginning to get politicised, with many leaders blaming the monopoly in the civil aviation sector.
The Congress has come out strongly against the Centre and the ministry of civil aviation alleging that it was ill-prepared for this. In a news conference in New Delhi, Congress MP Shashikant Senthil said: “This situation has been building for the past year and a half. But what was the DGCA doing all this time, given that it was responsible for enforcing the rules and ensuring that airlines complied over the last two years? …On one hand, they showcase Viksit Bharat; on the other, this is the reality unfolding before the world.”
Earlier, former Union Minister and Congress Leader P Chidambaram described the widespread flight cancellations, especially of IndiGo, as a consequence of what he termed a duopolistic market. “Mr Rahul Gandhi was spot on when he said that the monopoly/duopoly model is ill-suited for a developing country,” Chidambaram wrote on X.
Mr Rahul Gandhi was spot on when he said that the monopoly/duopoly model is ill-suited for a developing country
Duopoly prevails in many sectors of the Indian economy; the airline industry is one
Liberalisation and Open Economy are based on competition. Absent competition,…
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) December 6, 2025
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) MP Supriya Sule on Saturday strongly condemned the recent disruption of IndiGo flights. Speaking to reporters, the NCP-SCP MP said: “We condemn what happened to IndiGo. Government of India should issue an official statement in the Parliament and there should be an inquiry… Had there been four-five airlines, this situation would not have occurred. So, competition is good and customer is king. One airline’s monopoly is not good for any economy, country or business.”
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Rosters and red-eyes: Inside IndiGo’s week of turbulence