Rahul Gandhi said India deserves fair competition in every sector, not match-fixing monopolies.

Cost of monopoly model: Rahul Gandhi slams Centre over IndiGo flight chaos

Rahul Gandhi has accused the Centre of enabling a "monopoly model" in aviation as IndiGo faces large-scale flight cancellations and operational disruptions.

by · India Today

In Short

  • Rahul Gandhi blames government monopoly model for IndiGo flight cancellations
  • IndiGo cancelled over 400 on Friday due to crew shortages and operational issues
  • DGCA cites transitional challenges and winter pressures as causes of disruptions

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday criticised the Centre over utter chaos in the country's aviation sector due to IndiGo’s flight cancellations and disruptions, blaming the problems on the government’s “monopoly model.” In a post on X, Lok Sabha Opposition Leader called for “fair competition” in the aviation sector to prevent such disruptions.

In the wake of IndiGo cancelling over 550 flights on Thursday alone and over 450 flights on Friday till now, disrupting the travel plans of hundreds of passengers, Gandhi said it is ordinary Indians who pay the price in delays, cancellations and helplessness.

"IndiGo fiasco is the cost of this Govt's monopoly model. Once again, it's ordinary Indians who pay the price - in delays, cancellations and helplessness," the Leader of Opposition said in a post on X.

IndiGo, India’s largest airline, is facing a major crisis, cancelling over 450 flights across key airports for the third consecutive day. Out of these, 225 flights were cancelled at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport alone, while Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International saw over 100 cancellations and Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International recorded 90.

The airline has attributed the disruptions to cabin crew shortages and other operational challenges and apologised to passengers on Thursday via X.

Meanwhile, IndiGo has requested temporary exemptions from certain Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules for its A320 fleet until February 10, 2026, assuring the DGCA that operations will stabilize by then.

During a review meeting on Thursday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) noted that the airline’s operational disruptions were due to transitional challenges in implementing Phase 2 of the revised FDTL norms, crew-planning gaps and winter-season pressures.

The updated fatigue-management regulations, introduced following court directives, were rolled out in two phases on July 1 and November 1, 2025.

- Ends