Inside The 4-Hour Delay in Chennai-Singapore IndiGo Flight | Why Were Passengers Not Deboarded?

New Delhi: A normal morning flight from Chennai to Singapore, scheduled to depart at 7:20 am on Tuesday, finally took off after a delay of four hours and 19 minutes, and eventually took off at 11:39 am. More than 200 passengers who had already boarded, stayed cramped up within the aircraft at the Chennai Airport, as the IndiGo flight was hit by cascading delays.

Videos online showed the passengers, visibly agitated, questioning the prolonged wait, as they remained seated inside the aircraft that was parked at the tarmac for hours.

As per some sources, the air conditioning system, was underperforming and engineers had to be called in to fix the issue before departure. While the aircraft returned to bay to get the AC fixed, another issue came up.

The FTDL Norms

Amid the delay, the cockpit crew informed Indigo, which had gone through a rough patch in December 2025 owing to the Flight Duty Time Limitation criteria, that if they proceeded with the route, the FTDL norms may stand to be violated. As per the new air safety regulations, airlines cannot force its crew to be on duty for more than their prescribed duty hours.

IndiGo was then forced to arrange a fresh set of crew members, which in turn led to further delays, as visa formalities had to be completed for the newly assigned crew.

Why Were Passengers Not Deboarded

As the flight was international, deboarding passengers after immigration clearance would have led to some complications, aviation experts pointed out, and reprocessing the immigration formalities would have led to further delay.

Here's How IndiGo Responded

“IndiGo flight 6E 1025 operating from Chennai to Singapore on 24 February 2026 had returned to bay due to a minor technical snag. While necessary checks and maintenance were being carried out on the aircraft, the cockpit crew exceeded their flight duty time limitations, necessitating the change of crew and further delaying the flight," an IndiGo spokesperson said in an official statement. 

"We regret the inconvenience caused to our customers and did our best to minimise it by offering refreshments and sharing timely update. At IndiGo, the safety of our customers and crew is our top priority,” it added.

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