IndiGo

Is IndiGo safe?

Yes, on the evidence. IndiGo carries more passengers than any other Indian airline, about 2,300 flights a day at its 2026 peak, and in 20 years it has never had a fatal accident or lost an aircraft. We score it 81, just above Akasa Air (80) and well above Air India (57). What keeps it out of the top band is a regulator that has had to step in, most recently with a record fine in January 2026, and a series of engine failures on its A320neos.

A clean accident record at very high volume

Most airlines that fly this much have had at least one hull lossHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary in two decades. IndiGo has not. The accident database holds four entries for it, and none involved damage beyond repair:

• June 2020: a cabin crew member was seriously injured during an abrupt manoeuvre in descent towards Kochi on an A320neo.
• June 2021: an ATR 72-600 bounced four times on landing at Hubli and burst both nose tyres.
• September 2021: a crew member was seriously injured in turbulence between Tiruchirappalli and Bengaluru.

The fourth was a 2009 hijack threat by unruly passengers that ended on the ground at Delhi.

The December 2025 rostering collapse

India introduced stricter flight duty time limits for pilots in 2025, with longer rest periods and tighter limits on night flying. IndiGo did not hire or roster enough pilots in time. Between 3 and 5 December 2025 it cancelled 2,507 flights and delayed 1,852, stranding more than 300,000 passengers.

A four-member DGCA committee blamed "over-optimisation" of crew and aircraft, too little buffer in the rosters and weak operational control. On 17 January 2026 the regulator fined IndiGo ₹22.20 crore: ₹1.80 crore for breaches of its rules and ₹30 lakh a day for 68 days of non-compliance. It warned the chief executive and the chief operating officer and ordered a ₹50 crore bank guarantee. The pilots' federation called the fine too small.

No aircraft was put at risk, and cancelling flights is the safe choice when crews are short. But fatigue rules exist for safety, and an airline that plans to the edge of them is a concern. We count this in the incidents score.

Engine failures and a near miss

IndiGo was one of the first big operators of the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engine on the A320neo, and it paid for it. India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) published reports on 12 IndiGo A320neo engine stalls or shutdowns in 2019 alone, most of them air turn-backs during climb. All landed safely. More failures followed: an engine fire during a rejected take-off at Delhi in October 2022 and a shutdown after a loud bang climbing out of Amritsar in February 2023. A separate manufacturing defect in powder-metal engine parts, found in 2023, grounded dozens of IndiGo aircraft for inspections, and the airline expected to cut that number to the 40s in 2026.

The most serious event was a loss of separationLoss of separationWhen two aircraft come closer to each other than the minimum distance air traffic rules require. A reported near miss in the UK is called an airprox.More in the glossary at Delhi on 17 November 2023. The crew of IndiGo flight 2113 turned left after take-off instead of following their departure route and crossed the climb-out path of another IndiGo jet, flight 2206, leaving a parallel runway. Both crews got collision-avoidance alerts. At the closest point the aircraft were 400 feet apart vertically and 1.2 nautical miles laterally.

The DGCA also investigated A321 tail strikesTail strikeWhen the tail of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing, usually because the nose was raised too far or too early.More in the glossary at Chennai in March 2025 and on a go-around in heavy rain at Mumbai in August 2025.

Fleet and oversight

IndiGo had 432 aircraft on 30 June 2026. Almost all are A320neos, A321neos and ATR 72-600 turboprops for regional routes, and ch-aviation named it the world's youngest large fleet in 2025. Some long-haul flights use Boeing 777s and 787s leased with their maintenance from Turkish Airlines and Norse Atlantic. A321XLR deliveries began in 2026, and A350s are on order.

The airline answers to India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which scored 85.49% in ICAO's 2022 audit. India holds FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary, and IndiGo is an IATA member, so it passes the IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit.

Flying IndiGo: what helps

• Keep the belt fastened when seated. IndiGo's injuries have all come in turbulence or sharp manoeuvres, and monsoon storms from June to September are the main source.
• Have a plan B in a crisis. In a mass cancellation, Indian rules entitle you to a refund or rebooking. Book through IndiGo directly so changes are easier.
• Check the operator on long-haul routes. Flights to Europe on leased widebodies are flown by the lessor's crew on behalf of IndiGo.

How we scored it

The accident record (95), with no fatal accident or hull lossHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary in 20 years of flying, carries the score. The incidents score (64) reflects the 2026 fine, the engine failures and the Delhi near miss, and oversight (72) is the same as for other Indian airlines. Compare Air India and Akasa Air, which serve the same market.