Indigo Tells DGCA it is Unable to 'Pinpoint Exact Cause' For Disruptions

New Delhi: After widespread flight delays and cancellations which jeopardised air travel for thousands of people across the country, Indigo on Monday (December 8) told the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that presently is unable to “pinpoint the exact cause” for the disruptions.

Replying to the DGCA’s show cause notice to the airline’s chief executive officer Pieter Elbers and the airline chief operating officer Isidre Porqueras, Indigo said that the regulation manual allows a fifteen-day response timeline which will be needed to conduct a comprehensive ‘Root Cause Analysis’ (RCA), reported The Hindu Businessline.

The airline said that owing to the complexity and large scale of operations it is “realistically not possible to pinpoint the exact cause(s)” at this time.

Citing sources, The Hindu Businessline reported that the four-member DGCA panel, set up to probe the IndiGo crisis, has also summoned Pieter Elbers on December 10.

In its reply, IndiGo has said that it is “profusely apologetic” and deeply regrets the inconvenience and hardship caused to customers. It said that the disruption took place from the “compounding effect of multiple factors,” which operated in an “unfortunate and unforeseeable confluence”.

According to the airline, a combination of minor technical glitches, schedule changes linked to the start of the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system, and the implementation of and operation under the updated crew rostering rules – Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) Phase II – led to the disruptions.

Indigo added that it had been engaging with the DGCA about challenges in implementing FDTL Phase II and had been seeking variations, exemptions, or extensions.

The airline said that the disruptions started in early December when these factors coincided and resulted in a lower on-time network performance, which in turn affected crew availability.

According to The Hindu Businessline report, IndiGo said that on December 5, 2025, it resorted to the “drastic measure” of “rebooting” the network by carrying out a significant number of cancellations to recover stranded customers, ease airport congestion, and reposition crew and aircraft.

The airline added that following this measure, services could be progressively restored and normalised starting December 6, 2025.

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