Domestic aviation company Indigo on Thursday canceled 67 flights operating from various airports in the country. According to the airline’s website, only four of these flights were canceled due to operational reasons, while the rest were affected by bad weather forecast. According to PTI news, many major airports including Agartala, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Varanasi, Bengaluru have been affected by canceled flights. Meanwhile, the regulatory directorate general of aviation (DGCA) has declared the period from December 10 to February 10 as the official ‘fog window’ of winter. During this period, there are continuous challenges in flight operations due to fog in many areas including North India.
Deploying specially trained pilots is mandatory
Fog Operations (CAT-IIIB) regulations of DGCA mandate airlines to deploy specially trained pilots for flying operations in low visibility and use aircraft conforming to CAT-IIIB standards. Category-III is an advanced navigation system, which ensures safe landing of aircraft even in dense fog. Under Category-III-A, aircraft can land within 200 meters of runway visual range (RVR), while under Category-III-B, landing is possible even in less than 50 meters of visibility. It is noteworthy that after thousands of flights were canceled in the beginning of December, IndiGo’s operations are under the strict surveillance of DGCA. The airline is currently operating on a limited flight schedule under government instructions.
15,014 domestic flights allowed per week
In its original winter flight schedule, IndiGo was allowed to operate 15,014 domestic flights per week, an average of 2,144 flights daily, which was about six per cent more than the 14,158 weekly flights operated in the summer 2025 schedule. However, following large-scale operational disruptions, the government reduced IndiGo’s domestic flight schedule by 10 percent, or about 214 flights per day. Due to this, the airline can now operate a maximum of 1,930 domestic flights per day in the current winter schedule.
Thousands of flights were canceled between 1 and 9 December
This airline controlled by Rahul Bhatia had canceled thousands of flights between 1 and 9 December. The main reason for this was said to be inadequate planning and lack of crew to implement the new rules related to pilots’ duty period and rest. These rules were implemented from November 1, which had a direct impact on lakhs of passengers. Following these incidents, DGCA formed a four-member investigation committee, which includes Joint DG Sanjay Brahmane, Deputy DG Amit Gupta, Senior Flight Operations Inspector Kapil Manglik and FOI Lokesh Rampal. The committee has been tasked with investigating the root causes of the widespread operational disruptions at IndiGo. The committee has already questioned IndiGo CEO Peter Albers and COO Isidre Porcaras and is likely to submit its report this week.
Indigo issued travel advisory
Meanwhile, IndiGo, in a travel advisory issued on social media platform ‘X’, said that flight schedules have been affected due to low visibility and fog in Bengaluru. We are constantly monitoring the weather and making every possible effort to provide safe and smooth travel to the passengers. However, the displeasure of the passengers is also coming out openly. A passenger wrote on ‘X’ that on December 20, his flight from Bhubaneswar to Ahmedabad was delayed by more than five hours, while the return flight from Ahmedabad to Bhubaneswar was also delayed by more than three hours.
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