Other airlines jack up fares by up to 10 times amid IndiGo airlines crisis

BENGALURU: IndiGo Airlines has been facing severe problems due to staff shortages for the past five days, resulting in the cancellation and delays of over a thousand flights across the country.

While this has created a worse situation for passengers on one hand, other airlines have taken advantage and increased fares by more than ten times. The government has intervened to resolve the issue and has promised that the problem will be settled within a week.

Reviewed the operations of Indigo along with senior officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA. I have instructed the DGCA and concerned officials at the Ministry to keep a close watch on the network and directed Indigo to normalize the operations at the earliest. In… pic.twitter.com/ZdqFXPOAvM

— Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu (@RamMNK) December 4, 2025

The staff shortage at IndiGo Airlines is not a recent development. In the past four days, more than a thousand IndiGo flights have been cancelled, causing passengers to be stranded at airports. What initially seemed like a minor issue escalated into a serious problem within a couple of days.

Even though aircraft are available, there are no crew members to operate them, which has led IndiGo to announce complete cancellation of flights on major routes, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Jammu & Kashmir, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bhopal.

Booked flights were repeatedly delayed and eventually cancelled after several hours, prompting passengers to protest both inside and outside the airport. They posted videos on social media expressing their grievances.

Meanwhile, other airlines have exploited the situation, violating airfare regulations and raising ticket prices by more than tenfold. Economy tickets that should cost between Rs 5,000-8,000 for major cities have risen to Rs 50,000-Rs 80,000.

After opposition parties raised their voices in Parliament about this, the government stepped in. Civil Aviation Minister K Ramamohan Naidu said that the situation is expected to return to normal within the next three days.