54% passengers who flew Indigo had an issue with its timeliness in the last 12 months

December 4, 2025, New Delhi: Hundreds of Indigo flights have been cancelled in the last week as India’s largest airline by market share faces a severe crew shortage following new pilot/crew rostering rules under the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) that came into effect from November 1. Additional causes for flight cancellations include technical glitches, airport/airspace/ATC restrictions, airport congestion, seasonal schedule changes, and occasional weather disruptions.

As a result, over the past week, IndiGo cancelled more than 200 flights nationwide. On 3 December alone over 200 cancellations were reported. In November, IndiGo cancelled a staggering 1,232 flights, according to regulatory data. Apart from cancelled flights, IndiGo, has lately been coming in for lot of criticism for its tardy services, delay of flights and rude behavior with passengers who are expected to wait patiently while the airline announces periodic delays, according to some grievances shared on ‘X’ platforms.

IndiGo slipped into a loss of INR 2,582 crore in the July–September quarter (Q2) of FY26, compared with a profit of INR 2,176 crore in the previous April–June quarter (Q1 FY26). The airline said its loss during the quarter was mainly due to the impact of currency movement, leading to a steep forex loss of INR 2,892 crore compared with INR 241 crore in the same period last financial year. Without the forex impact, the airline would have reported a net profit of INR 104 crore, as per its regulatory filing.

Currently, IndiGo operates around 15,768 flights weekly, reflecting a 12.7% increase from the same period last year, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. While IndiGo faces challenges in profitability and on-time performance due to rising operational costs and engine issues, it continues to grow its market share and capacity, demonstrating a mixed performance in the recent period.

With India’s aviation market poised for sustained growth, and IndiGo’s ambitious expansion plans firmly underway, the carrier appears well-positioned to maintain its ascent on the global stage. The airline, in its recent analyst meeting, said it expects the international segment to be its major growth driver over the next five years with the Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) rising to 40% by FY30 up from 28% in FY25 1H.

IndiGo, which took pride in its strong on-time performance (OTP), has seen some fluctuations in its performance over last several months. It has seen fluctuations, with some reports indicating a drop from 92.4% in 2021 to 85.4% in 2023. In 2024, only 69.69% of IndiGo’s flights are reported to have arrived on time at their destination. Currently its on-time arrival rate is around 80-82%.

In a new survey, LocalCircles has strived to find out areas of passenger concern with Indigo and how things have changed in the last 12 months.

39% of parents surveyed indicated that young members in their family are regularly ordering ultra-processed foods through Quick Commerce or online grocery sites/apps

Considering some of the social media complaints against Indigo on the service front, the survey asked fliers, “What are some of the issues you have experienced when flying Indigo in the last 12 months?" Some among the 15,938 fliers who responded to the question indicated more than one issue. 54% of respondents stated “timeliness” is a major issue; 54% of respondents indicated “staff attitude and courteousness”; 45% indicated "information timeliness and transparency”; 42% indicated "baggage handling”; 32% indicated "customer service”; 27% indicated "quality and maintenance of aircraft”; 23% indicated "food quality”; 14% indicated "entertainment systems” and 19% indicated "other issues” not mentioned above. To sum up, staff attitude and lack of courteousness, timeliness and lack of information transparency are the top issues Indigo fliers have with the airline

Consumer complaints against Indigo have risen in areas like timeliness, baggage, staff attitude & courteousness, customer service, quality, of aircraft & maintenance and information timeliness & transparency in the last 12 months

On most counts Indigo fliers have more complaints this year compared to those in 2024. In areas like timeliness, it has risen from 33% to 54%, in baggage handling from 27% to 42%, staff attitude & courteousness 46% to 54%, customer service 23% to 32%, on quality of aircraft & maintenance it has risen from 19% to 27% and on information timeliness & transparency front it has risen from 27% to 45% in the last 12 months.

In summary, in the last 12 months, passenger complaints against Indigo have risen in areas like timeliness, baggage, staff attitude & courteousness, customer service, quality of aircraft & maintenance and information timeliness & transparency. In effect, staff attitude and lack of courteousness, timeliness and lack of information transparency are the top issues Indigo fliers have with the low-cost airline.

As the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) does not probe all the issues of concern to the fliers, it is critical that the Ministry of Civil Aviation sets up a body or atleast panel with representatives from DGCA and Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) for better redressal of fliers’ grievances.