India's top aviation authority, the DGCA, created a special team of four experts. This team looked into big problems at IndiGo, the country's largest airline. IndiGo had many flight cancellations recently.
The team gave their report to DGCA on the evening of December 26, 2025. They started work earlier that month to find out what caused thousands of flights to get delayed or cancelled. This affected a huge number of passengers.
The team formed on December 5, 2025. It was led by DGCA's Joint Director General Sanjay K. Bramhane. Other members were Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, Senior Flight Operations Inspector Captain Kapil Manglik, and Flight Operations Inspector Lokesh Rampal. Their task was to check every part of the flight issues. These problems started in late November and went on into early December.
In early December, IndiGo cancelled more than 1,600 flights in just one day. Overall, over 4,000 flights got cancelled between December 1 and December 9. This hit hundreds of thousands of passengers at big airports across India. DGCA said IndiGo did not plan well for new rules called Flight Duty Time Limitations, or FDTL. These rules are stricter about how long pilots can work and how much rest they need.
DGCA gave IndiGo many warnings ahead of time. But IndiGo could not guess right how many pilots and crew would be ready under the new rules. They also did not finish training on time or fix crew schedules properly. This caused a chain reaction of delays and cancellations all over their flights, starting from late November. DGCA found problems in how IndiGo checked its own work and followed rules.
IndiGo agreed during checks that they guessed too low on how many crew they really needed. The new FDTL rules came in steps. The second part started on November 1, 2025. They give pilots more rest time and limit back-to-back flying hours. This makes scheduling crew much harder.
To fix things, DGCA told IndiGo to cut its winter flight plans by 10 percent. This matches their real crew numbers better. DGCA also sent warning letters to IndiGo's CEO Pieter Elbers and COO Isidre Porqueras. These letters ask why they should not face punishment.
The team's report is secret for now. DGCA has not shared the full details yet. They sent copies to the Civil Aviation Minister's office and the Civil Aviation Secretary. The report will help decide what rules or actions to take so airlines avoid these problems again.
The flight cancellations also caused ongoing issues this month. Winter weather like thick fog has delayed more flights at several airports. This adds trouble for travelers as the aviation world tries to get schedules back to normal.