(MENAFN- Live Mint) At least 150 IndiGo flights were cancelled, while several others faced delays and disruptions on Wednesday after the low-cost carrier experienced one of its most severe operational breakdowns in recent times. The turbulence – largely triggered by a crew shortage – continued into Thursday morning, with many passengers venting their frustration on social media.

A social media user who goes by the name Shubham Sharma recorded the chaotic scenes at Pune airport, showing passengers desperately waiting for their flights.“My Indigo Flight from Pune to Delhi is delayed by more than 3.5 hours. There are many flyers who have been waiting at the airport for more than 12 hours,” he wrote.

Sanjay Kalirona, CEO of Gizmoreindia, revealed that his IndiGo flight 6409 from Pune to Delhi was scheduled to take off at 2.45 am but had still not departed by 9.30 am this morning.“My daughter Sitting in plane since 2 hours. She was not well hence heading back home. It is complete chaos at airport,” he added.

Also Read | IndiGo meltdown explained – Why 200+ flights were delayed?

Another flyer highlighted the skyrocketing fares of other airlines. IndiGo flights had been cancelled, and other carriers had allegedly increased their prices to take advantage.“Delhi-Mumbai costing same as Delhi-London. Indigo is just refunding the amount. If you had important work in Mumbai, its your problem,” a third user wrote.

Anand Sridharan, an investor with Nalanda Capital, reported that his 7 am IndiGo flight this morning was put on indefinite hold because the captain was missing.

Also Read | GMR to IndiGo: This SC hearing is important for aviation shareholders

“Officially, board says flight on time. Staff say Captain is missing, so flight is indefinitely late,” Sridharan wrote on the social media platform X.“Passengers screaming. Others filming the screaming to post on social media.”

He said the captain was found after about 30 minutes, but by then the first officer had gone missing, causing even more delays.

IndiGo reacts

IndiGo issued an apology for the chaos and said it has begun making“calibrated adjustments” to its flight schedules. Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated that it is examining the widespread IndiGo disruptions and has asked the airline to provide a report outlining the reasons behind the situation.

Also Read | IndiGo flights delayed nationwide by new pilot rostering rules, leaves IndiGo flight cancelled: What triggered the chaos?

According to an airline spokesperson, IndiGo's operations have been“significantly disrupted across the network for the past two days”, caused by a mix of issues such as technical glitches, adverse weather, heightened congestion and the implementation of updated Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), which came into force in November.

Compounding the problem, an urgent Airbus A320 software patch affected several IndiGo flights over the previous weekend (29–30 November), further straining operations that were already struggling with the new FDTL-related roster management requirements.

MENAFN04122025007365015876ID1110434756