IndiGo slapped with Rs22.2cr fine for mass flight cancellations
In addition to the fine, Indigo has been ordered to pledge a bank guarantee of Rs50 crore in favour of the civil aviation sector regulator to ensure compliance with the directives and long term systemic correction.
India's civil aviation authorities have slapped a penalty of Rs22.20 crore on the country's biggest airline IndiGo for massive disruption of services in December 2025.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a statement today (17 January) that in addition to the fine, Indigo has been ordered to pledge a bank guarantee of Rs50 crore in favour of the civil aviation sector regulator to ensure compliance with the directives and long term systemic correction.
Responding to the DGCA order, IndiGo, which has over 60% share of India's burgeoning civil aviation market, said it will take full cognisance and take appropriate measures.
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The DGCA said the imposition of financial penalty was decided after a four-member committee appointed by it made a comprehensive assessment of the circumstances leading to large-scale delays and flight cancellations by IndiGo from 3 to 5 December 2025, resulting in cancellation of 2,507 flights and delays of 1,852 flights and causing inconvenience to over three lakh passengers stranded at various airports.
The total penalty includes one-time systemic penalties of Rs1.8 crore.
The committee observed that IndiGo's management failed to adequately identify planning deficiencies, maintain sufficient operational buffers and effectively implement the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) provisions, the statement said, adding "these lapses resulted in widespread flight delays and large-scale cancellations, causing inconvenience to passengers.
The DGCA said the inquiry committee conducted a detailed probe and thoroughly studied the network planning, rostering and software being deployed by Indigo for the same.
