Mumbai, Dec. 6 -- Days of widespread flight cancellations and severe delays have disrupted travel across major airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

The crisis has been triggered by an acute crew shortage following the rollout of revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL). The new norms exposed what officials describe as serious rostering and planning lapses, causing IndiGo's network to unravel. As crew became unavailable under the updated rules, schedules slipped, delays snowballed and cancellations crossed into the hundreds.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has intervened, ordering IndiGo to clear all pending refunds, provide automatic full refunds for cancelled flights, an...