IndiGo Shares Fall Over 7% After DGCA Show Cause Notice, Flight Cancellations Continue

Shares of IndiGo, India’s largest low-cost carrier, dropped another 7.41% on Monday, marking the seventh consecutive session of declines. The latest fall comes right after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) slapped the airline with a show-cause notice over widespread operational chaos.

Last week, the airline abruptly cancelled thousands of flights across the country, leaving countless travelers stranded at airports and triggering a sharp spike in ticket prices on remaining flights. The sudden fare surge forced the Ministry of Civil Aviation to step in and impose temporary caps to protect passengers.

With passenger anger mounting and regulatory scrutiny intensifying, IndiGo’s market value continues to take a serious hit as investors worry about reputational damage and potential penalties.

Shares of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, the parent company of IndiGo, dropped another 7.41% on Monday, following the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) slapping the airline with a show-cause notice over widespread operational chaos and flight cancellations, the stock, which opened at 5100.05, hit an intraday low of 4965.05 before recovering slightly. As of 11:21 on December 8, 2025, InterGlobe Aviation was currently trading at 4973.50, reflecting a significant drop of 397.80 from its previous close of 5371.30, as per BSE.

The stock's fall followed the Indian aviation regulator holding the airline's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pieter Elbers, accountable for the widespread cancellations and delays.

Significant Lapses in Planning

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a show-cause notice on Saturday, demanding that CEO Pieter Elbers explain the cancellations that affected nearly half of IndiGo’s flights the day before, as reported by Bloomberg. The regulator explicitly faulted the company for “significant lapses in planning, oversight, and resource management,” stating that Elbers had “failed in your duty to ensure timely arrangements for conduct of reliable operations and the availability of requisite facilities to the passengers.”

Pilot Shortages Cited for Disruption

The crisis, attributed primarily to pilot shortages, began last Tuesday and escalated to become one of the country’s worst air disruptions. On Friday, IndiGo had canceled over 1,000 flights across its network. The carrier commands two-thirds of the domestic market and typically operates about 2,200 flights daily in what has become the world’s third-largest domestic aviation market, where demand from a rising middle class is rapidly outstripping airline capacity.

IndiGo stated on Sunday that operations were stabilizing, with the airline on track to operate more than 1,650 flights and an on-time performance reaching 75%. This marked an improvement from 1,500 flights on Saturday, when only 30% of its services departed on time. The airline projected a “growing confidence for stabilization of the network” by Wednesday, a quicker timeline than its previous estimate that stretched until December 15, Bloomberg reported.

CEO Seeks Extension to Respond

The authorities asked Elbers to show cause within 24 hours of the notice “as to why appropriate enforcement action should not be initiated” against him for the violations. According to a letter seen by Bloomberg News, IndiGo requested an extension until 6 p.m. local time on Monday. The airline cited its vast flight network and the “multitude of unavoidable factors” leading to the disruption as reasons requiring more time to compile a detailed response.