IndiGo's Profit Drive Unravels Operations, Sparks India's Air Chaos

• IndiGo, India's largest airline, faced massive flight cancellations (over 1,000 on Dec 5) due to a tech glitch, new pilot rest rules, and lack of operational redundancy.
• Thousands of passengers were stranded, prompting government intervention to suspend new pilot rules, cap airfares, and add special trains.
• IndiGo's parent company lost $4.3 billion in market value, and its CEO faced scrutiny from the aviation regulator over "significant lapses."
• The crisis stemmed from IndiGo's ultra-optimized, lean operations, which lacked the redundancy needed to adapt to new regulations and disruptions.
• The incident underscores the risks of one airline holding a 66% market share and its potential to disrupt national air traffic.

Why It Matters: A top airline's collapse reveals the fragility of over-optimized systems.