IndiGo, India’s largest airline, reportedly spent several months luring people by selling flight tickets at heavy discounts and making huge profits out of it. The steeply discounted airfares strategy was, however, met with a sudden wave of mass cancellations. The budget carrier cancelled flights due to crew shortage, leading to widespread disruptions that left thousands of passengers stranded across the country.
IndiGo sold discounted tickets in flash sales between…
The window tickets were reportedly sold out in large numbers during November and December when there was a high demand. IndiGo launched several promotional sales between August and November this year, offering discounted flight tickets up to 40-50 percent, News18 reported. Many of these flights were booked on dates that coincided with the crisis in December.
Flight ticket sale aimed at customers planning trips in 2026
India announced its limited-time annual flagship sale, ‘The Great Runaway Fest,’ giving huge discounts to travelers. This weeklong sale, which ran from September 15 to 21, offered discounted flight tickets for both domestic and international travel. During this time, domestic one-way fares started at Rs 1,299, while international fares began at Rs 4,599. The sale was aimed at customers planning trips between January and March in 2026.
Sell tickets only to be face cancellations?
The first phase of sales began with the ‘Independence Day Sale’ between August 15 to 18. During this period, the airline offered discounted airfares for travel between August 22, 2025, and March 31, 2026.
A few weeks later, between November 5 to 8, the airline announced its ‘Getaway Sale’ for flight bookings for November 12 to April 2026. This came just after the new Flight Duty Time Limit (FDTL) rules took effect, a change the airline was already aware of. IndiGo later closed the cycle of its ‘Black Friday Sale,’ between November 25 to 28.
“This trend appears to be more than just operational turbulence. If you already know your crew availability will drop, why sell tickets at a 40–50% discount for those exact dates? It gives the impression of overbooking, collecting money first, and cancelling later,” an aviation expert told News18.
Centre cuts 10% of IndiGo routes
According to the latest update, IndiGo flight cancellations and delays continued for 8 consecutive days on Tuesday, following which the Ministry of Civil Aviation ordered the airline to curtail its operations by 10% while “continuing to cover all its destinations as before”. Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai remained the worst-hit cities with over 400 flight cancellations on Tuesday.
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