Amid Turbulence, IndiGo Proposes Leave Buybacks Of Pilots — Exclusive Details Inside

IndiGo, India's largest airline in terms of market share, has cancelled more than 300 domestic and international flights in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and other airports on Thursday as the airline grapples with a severe pilot and crew shortage, triggered by challenges in enforcing the new rostering rules.

In an email, accessed by NDTV Profit, IndiGo has reached out to its pilots and first officers, proposing a buyback of leaves at approximately 1.5 times of the per-day gross salary.

The captains and first officers of Airbus have been offered the buyback for leaves commencing from Jan. 1 till Feb. 3, 2026. They are eligible to surrender their leaves. While there is no restriction on the number of days that one can offer, longer blocks will be given priority, according to the company.

The acceptance of such days of leave may depend on various factors, such as operational requirements, CAT III qualification, sector clearances and more, according to the communication.

NDTV Profit has reached out to IndiGo for a comment, and their response was awaited at the time of publishing this report.

This comes after the airline was hit by operational disruptions regarding cabin crew shortage that continued for the third day, impacting the travel plans of hundreds of passengers. This regarding the implementation of the new flight duty-time limitation norms, which took effect last month.

IndiGo has been summoned by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to explain the ongoing operational issues and present a detailed plan to mitigate disruptions.

The bulk of these cancellations are linked to crew and FDTL-related constraints, while the second-biggest factor was airport or airspace restrictions. A part of the flights was cancelled due to miscellaneous reasons, while some others were grounded due of air traffic control system failures.