DGCA Fines IndiGo: The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) on Saturday levied a fine of Rs 22.20 crores on IndiGo for its flight disruptions in December 2025, which created unprecedented chaos at several airports across major Indian cities.
The aviation regulatory body also issued a strong warning to the India's largest airline. "Additionally, Warnings have also been issued to Deputy Head-Flight Operations, AVP-Crew Resource Planning, and Director-Flight Operations for operational, supervisory, manpower planning, and roster management lapses. Further, M/s IndiGo has been directed to take appropriate action against any other personnel identified through its internal inquiry and submit a compliance report to DGCA," the statement read.
ALSO READ: IndiGo Clears All Refunds For December Flight Cancellations, Offers Goodwill Vouchers, Says DGCA
Here Are The Highlights Of The DGCA Statement
Following the large-scale delays and cancellations reported by M/s IndiGo during the period from 3rd to 5th December 2025-resulting in the cancellation of 2,507 flights and delays of 1,852 flights and causing inconvenience to over three lakh passengers stranded at various airports, on the directions of MoCA, a four-member Committee was constituted by DGCA to undertake a comprehensive review and assessment of the circumstances leading to the operational disruptions of M/s IndiGo.
The Committee conducted a detailed inquiry and took statements of the relevant stakeholders and thoroughly studied the network planning, rostering and software being deployed by Indigo for the same.
The Key Findings Of The Inquiry Committee Were That:
- The primary causes for the disruption were over-optimisation of operations, inadequate regulatory preparedness along with deficiencies in system software support and shortcomings in management structure and operational control on the part of M/s IndiGo.
- The Committee observed that the airline's management failed to adequately identify planning deficiencies, maintain sufficient operational buffer, and effectively implement the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) provisions. These lapses resulted in widespread flight delays and large-scale cancellations, causing inconvenience to passengers.
- The Inquiry further noted an overriding focus on maximising utilisation of crew, aircraft, and network resources, which significantly reduced roster buffer margins. Crew rosters were designed to maximise duty periods, with increased reliance on dead-heading, tail swaps, extended duty patterns, and minimal recovery margins.
- This approach compromised roster integrity and adversely impacted operational resilience. The inquiry also included within its purview long term reform measures addressing systemic issues so that such incidents do not occur in the future and passengers are not put to any inconvenience.
- The findings underscore the need for balanced operational planning, robust regulatory preparedness, and effective management oversight to ensure sustainable operations and passenger safety and convenience.
Refunds To All Passengers Hit By Disruptions From Dec 3-5 processed: IndiGo
On the other hand, Domestic carrier IndiGo told the DGCA that it has processed refunds to all passengers affected by flight cancellations between December 3 and 5.
"Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is constantly engaging with domestic carrier IndiGo with respect to refunds and compensations provided to the affected passengers due to operational disruptions from December 3-5," it said.
IndiGo informed that all refunds for IndiGo flight cancellations during the period of December 3rd to December 5 have been fully processed and cleared to the original source of payment," DGCA said in a statement.