IndiGo fiasco result of govt's 'monopoly model', says Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the IndiGo "fiasco" is the cost of this government's "monopoly model" and asserted that India deserves fair competition in every sector, not match-fixing monopolies.

In the wake of IndiGo cancelling over 550 flights on Thursday alone and 400 flights on Friday, 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.

"India deserves fair competition in every sector, not match-fixing monopolies," Gandhi asserted.

IndiGo on Thursday told aviation watchdog DGCA that operations are expected to be fully stabilised by February 10, 2026, and sought temporary relaxations in flight duty norms on a day when the country's largest airline cancelled more than 550 flights, disrupting the travel plans of hundreds of passengers.

Acknowledging that the flight disruptions happening for the past few days are primarily due to misjudgment and planning gaps in implementing the second phase of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms, IndiGo also informed the regulator that there will be more cancellations till December 8 and from that day, there will also be a reduction in services.

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu held a high-level review meeting to assess the situation of significant flight disruptions and expressed his displeasure at the way IndiGo handled the new FDTL norms implementation despite having ample time.