India’s busiest airports have descended into chaos after the country’s largest airline cancelled well over a thousand flights in a single day, leaving thousands of passengers stranded across the nation’s key air hubs.

The airline, facing a critical shortage of cockpit crew, acknowledged “significant scheduling and operational disruptions” related to newly enforced pilot duty-time restrictions.

The distress spread rapidly, affecting major airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai and more.

The crisis escalated following the November implementation of stricter flight duty time limitation norms aimed at reducing pilot fatigue — including longer rest periods and limits on night flying.

The airline, which controls a dominant portion of domestic air traffic, said it misjudged the roster planning needed to comply with the rules.

As cancellations mounted, passengers reported long queues, cancelled itineraries at short notice, piled-up delays and little information from airline staff.

Many travellers described chaotic scenes with crowds sleeping on airport floors and scrambling for alternatives.

By Friday, civil aviation authorities intervened: the national regulator temporarily suspended the new duty-time rules so airlines could resume flights, citing the urgent need to restore connectivity amid the disruption.

The government also imposed fare caps on rerouted flights to protect travellers from inflated prices.

Meanwhile the aviation watchdog issued a show-cause notice to the airline’s CEO, demanding explanations for what it described as “unacceptable operational failures.”

Airports responded with emergency measures — deploying extra staff, setting up help desks, offering refunds and rebooking options, and even deploying special trains to provide alternative transport for stranded passengers.

Railway services added dozens of extra trains to ease pressure on ground transport.

Airlines have begun issuing apologies and assurances that they will restore normal operations in the coming days.

For now, India’s once-reliable domestic air network remains in disarray, highlighting the fragility of the system under abrupt regulatory shifts and raising urgent questions about planning, preparedness, and the balance between safety regulations and service stability.