IndiGo's November Meltdown: 1,232 Flights Cancelled as Indian Airlines Grapple with Delays and Complaints

India's aviation sector faced significant disruptions in November 2025, with market leader IndiGo cancelling 1,232 flights, accounting for 62 per cent of all cancellations across domestic carriers. According to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the cancellations were primarily attributed to crew shortages and flight duty time limitations (755 cases), airspace restrictions (258 cases), and air traffic control system failures (92 cases). These issues led to widespread delays, some lasting up to 10 hours, leaving lakhs of passengers stranded and highlighting operational vulnerabilities in the rapidly growing industry.

Despite the November turmoil, IndiGo maintained a strong overall performance throughout 2025, with cancellation rates below 1 per cent for most months except May (2.03 per cent). The airline also recorded the highest on-time performance (OTP) at 84.1 per cent across six major metro airports—Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata—and the lowest passenger complaint rate of 0.2 per 10,000 passengers in October 2025. In contrast, smaller carriers like Alliance Air struggled with cancellation rates exceeding 4 per cent in most months, peaking at 6.13 per cent in June, alongside the highest complaint rate of 74.6 per 10,000 passengers.

Industry-wide challenges persisted, with technical glitches emerging as the leading cause of cancellations in October 2025 (38.7 percent), followed by weather-related issues (17.7 percent) and operational challenges (15.4 percent). Passenger grievances in that month were dominated by flight problems (45.6 per cent), baggage issues (18.9 per cent), and refund concerns (16.3 per cent). Other airlines, such as SpiceJet, reported an OTP of just 54.4 percent and 13.8 complaints per 10,000 passengers, while Air India Group and Akasa Air hovered around 79 percent OTP.

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As India's aviation market continues to expand, the recent disruptions underscore the need for better resource management and infrastructure upgrades to handle increasing passenger volumes. While IndiGo's dominance in market share has generally translated to superior reliability metrics, the November episode serves as a reminder of the sector's susceptibility to crew constraints and systemic bottlenecks, prompting calls for proactive measures from regulators and operators alike.

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