India’s largest airline, IndiGo, has cancelled more than 2,000 flights over the past week, including 500 today.
The airline, which has a codeshare partnership with British Airways, has blamed the introduction of new crew rostering rules for the cancellations.
The disruption has left IndiGo passengers stranded at airports across India, including in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Today alone, 134 flights have been cancelled at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, there are 127 cancellations at Bengaluru, 77 at Hyderabad and 71 at Chennai.
IndiGo usually operates 2,000 flights a day, mainly on domestic routes.
Earlier this year, it also launched flights between Manchester and London Heathrow and Mumbai.
In a statement, it told Travel Gossip on Friday: “While we are currently experiencing some operational disruptions, we are taking all necessary measures to restore normalcy as quickly as possible.
“At present, flights for UK passengers departing from London Heathrow and Manchester are operating as scheduled.”
IndiGo blamed new limits on crew and pilot flying hours, introduced by India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation on 1 November, for the cancellations.
The new rules extend the mandatory weekly rest periods for pilots from 36 to 48 hours and restrict them to no more than two night landings a week, down from six previously.
Reports in the India media state that the airline isn’t expecting to resume its full schedule until 10 February 2026.
Travel Gossip has approached BA for a comment.
Image is a stock photo of Mumbai airport departure hall, taken in 2019
