A blistering “open letter” allegedly written by a long‑time IndiGo insider has exploded across social media, turning the airline’s ongoing meltdown into a referendum on how India’s largest carrier has been run from the inside. The four-page note, shared with screenshots on X, argues that the mass cancellations and nationwide chaos of early December are not a freak event but the logical outcome of years of overreach, fear‑driven management and exhausted frontline staff.
From pride to “too big to fail”
The writer begins by recalling IndiGo’s launch in 2006 as a scrappy team that genuinely believed it was building something new for India. Over time, they say, that pride “turned into arrogance, and growth turned into greed.” According to the letter, management began to behave as if IndiGo was simply too big to fail, even as it aggressively deployed capacity on routes where newer airlines like Akasa Air were trying to find their feet.
The employee claims IndiGo’s famed punctuality and market dominance came at a hidden cost: routes oversupplied to choke competition, tight turnarounds that left little buffer, and an internal culture where on‑time performance mattered more than human fatigue or long‑term safety. This echoes broader commentary that IndiGo’s near‑60% domestic market share has been built on relentless utilisation of aircraft and staff, leaving the system vulnerable when any shock—like the new pilot fatigue rules hits.
Inside the hierarchy: titles, ESOPs and fear
A key theme of the letter is how IndiGo’s internal hierarchy allegedly ballooned as the airline grew. The author describes a phase where “titles became more important than talent,” with people “who couldn’t even draft a proper email” elevated to VP roles because those positions unlocked ESOPs and influence.
To justify this power, the writer alleges, some leaders routinely squeezed employees beneath them:
- Pilots raising fatigue or safety concerns were called into head offices, shouted at, humiliated or subtly threatened with bad rosters and stalled promotions.
- Engineers were made to juggle multiple aircraft at once, running between bays to keep tight schedules intact.
- Ground staff on salaries of ₹16,000–18,000 a month were expected to do the work of “three people,” sprinting from plane to plane with barely any breaks.
Cabin crew, the letter says, often faced passengers with a smile while “crying in the galley” between services. The dominant emotion, in the author’s telling, was not pride but fear: “No consequences. No accountability. Just fear.”
“We are running on empty”: fatigue, regulators and broken trust
The images also show the writer accusing management and regulators of collectively failing to protect staff:
- New duty rules without compensation: When night duties were doubled, new rostering rules introduced, or leave systems tightened, “not a single extra rupee” was added to crew pay for the added physical and mental toll.
- Barriers to exits: Pilots who tried to move abroad allegedly found their licence validations delayed by regulators, with “unofficial prices” whispered for faster processing—claims that tap into long‑standing industry complaints about opaque bureaucracy.
- No effective union or watchdog: Fatigue rules, the letter says, were changed “in ways that made our schedules even more brutal,” with no strong union or regulator pushing back on behalf of frontline workers.
This sense of abandonment is crucial to the narrative. Employees, the author writes, care deeply about passengers but are “running on empty.” They argue that when staff feel exploited and exhausted, it becomes impossible to provide the warm, reliable service IndiGo built its brand on—no matter how many PR campaigns promise otherwise.
Read this: Why IndiGo Airlines Is Cancelling So Many Flights and When It Will Be Over: CEO Clarifies
The present crisis as a slow-motion collapse
Linking these grievances to the current disruption, the letter insists that “nothing happened overnight.” The recent week of mass cancellations—peaking at more than 1,000 scrapped flights in a single day—is framed as the consequence of:
- Years of under‑resourced crews and thin buffers in pursuit of utilisation;
- Warnings about fatigue and scheduling brushed aside;
- Overconfidence that IndiGo’s scale and reputation would carry it through any turbulence.
This diagnosis aligns with independent analyses that have tied the December chaos to the combination of stricter Flight Duty Time Limit (FDTL) rules, pre‑existing crew shortages, and a business model that left little slack in the system. The letter’s author claims employees repeatedly saw this coming, “watched the system crack,” and watched colleagues burn out or quit while leadership “flew in and out of Europe” and India’s regulator looked away.
A direct appeal—and a naming of names
The final part of the open letter turns into an appeal to both government and the public. The writer urges policymakers to:
- Set minimum wages for ground staff.
- Enforce minimum manpower per aircraft so crews are not dangerously thin.
- Revisit fatigue rules with real employee representation, not just top‑down diktats.
- Penalise operational negligence that strands or endangers lakhs of passengers.
“IndiGo will not collapse from paying its employees fairly,” the letter argues. “But it will collapse if it continues treating them like they don’t matter.”
Why this letter hits a nerve
For passengers watching videos of chaos at Indian airports and staff visibly breaking down on duty, the viral letter offers a coherent—if one‑sided—explanation: IndiGo’s crisis is not just about new FDTL rules or a temporary scheduling glitch, but about a work culture stretched beyond breaking point.
For policymakers, it is an uncomfortable reminder that aviation safety and reliability depend as much on humane rosters, fair pay and regulator vigilance as on shiny new aircraft. And for IndiGo, it is a stark signal that restoring operations by mid‑December may not be enough; rebuilding internal trust and external confidence will require confronting the issues this insider has now forced into the open.
An open letter from @IndiGo6E pilots to people of India. https://t.co/yBr64JXXS7 pic.twitter.com/AXtvkHu6D3
— AWCS (@AeroAwcs) December 6, 2025
