IndiGo, the airline that once redefined punctuality and scale in India, cancelled hundreds of flights nationwide, undone by its biggest operational crisis yet: a potent mix of misjudged pilot requirements under new rules and a risky “lean-staffing” or “buffer-deficit” model.

Regulatory changes to pilot duty-time limits, combined with tight staffing and an aggressive winter schedule, exposed deep cracks in IndiGo’s crew-planning model this month. The airline’s use-every-aircraft, maximise-night-flying strategy – the backbone of its low-cost dominance – collapsed as large segments of its pilot roster were pushed into mandatory rest periods.

India’s largest airline has been for the past six days cancelling hundreds of flights, including more than 650 Sunday out of around 2,300 daily flights

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