Schedule changes, glitches, new rules among causes of disruptions, says IndiGo

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday (December 8, 2025) said it had received IndiGo’s response to the show-cause notice issued over the large-scale flight cancellations by the airline in the past few days, and that it would take enforcement action.

The airline is “profusely apologetic” and deeply regrets the inconvenience and hardship caused to customers following flight cancellations, the Civil Aviation Regulator said.

“It was in the process of examining the response, and enforcement action, as deemed appropriate, would be taken in due course,” the DCGA said. The DGCA had on Saturday (December 6, 2025) issued show-cause notices to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras seeking explanations within 24 hours on the massive flight disruptions.

This was later extended to Monday (December 8, 2025), 6 p.m., after the airline sought more time from the regulator. “IndiGo submitted replies signed by both Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer on December 8 at 1801 hours,” the DGCA said in a statement.

IndiGo, in its response, said “the disruption had resulted from a combination of the factors, including minor technical glitches, schedule changes linked to the start of the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system, as well as implementation of and operation under the updated crew rostering rules (Flight Duty Time Limitation Phase II), which coincided in lesser or greater measure.

“It is realistically not possible to pinpoint the exact cause(s) at this time due to the complexity and vast scale of operations,” the airline said in its response. “The DGCA’s manual allows a 15-day response time for show-cause notices,” IndiGo said, suggesting more time was needed to conduct a comprehensive ‘Root Cause Analysis’.