Former CCI chair: IndiGo’s grip must be loosened to keep Indian skies open and fair

In the bustling skies of India, where air travel has become the lifeblood of a rapidly growing economy, a single airline’s dominance can destabilize the entire nation. December 2025 will long be remembered as the month when IndiGo, India’s undisputed aviation giant, triggered the country’s worst ever flight crisis with its disregard for regulation.In the past few days, this air carrier, boasting a fleet of over 350 aircraft and a domestic market share of around 64%, descended into chaos amid the cancellation of thousands of its flights that left tens of thousands of Indian passengers stranded.

Families got separated, business executives lost deals and medical evacuations had to be re-routed. The sight of women and children in distress became routine.

Meanwhile, flight fares rose astronomically and hotels too jumped into the fray. What began as a routine implementation of fatigue-mitigating crew rest rules snowballed into a historic aviation disaster.

It is a stark reminder of the perils of aviation dominance in the world’s third-largest market for air travel services. Fortunately, the government acted with exemplary swiftness, running trains, capping fares and providing temporary relief from rules.The rules being implemented were the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), the second tranche of which was rolled out on 1 November following a Delhi high court directive to reduce pilot fatigue and enhance safety.These rules capped night landings by pilots, extended mandatory rest periods and tightened flight time restrictions—measures long overdue for safety in an industry plagued by overworked crews.While smaller carriers like SpiceJet and Akasa Air adapted with minimal