SpiceJet flight cancellations have gone from bad to almost routine. India's budget airline, once the country's second-biggest, is now reportedly canceling 15 to 20 flights a day out of roughly 65 on its schedule, and flight tracking on Tuesday showed 19 of its 116 listed flights canceled and another 28 delayed. If you're booked on SpiceJet in the next few weeks, there's a real chance your flight won't go as planned.
This isn't one bad week. SpiceJet canceled more than 20% of its flights in both August and September, according to India's aviation regulator, when the rest of the industry canceled about 1%. In September, it ran on time only 16.6% of the time at India's biggest airports. IndiGo, the country's largest airline, managed 91%.
What's Going Wrong at SpiceJet
The short version is money. SpiceJet's active fleet has reportedly shrunk to about a dozen planes, and three of those are said to be grounded over unpaid lease bills. The airline reportedly pays for fuel and services up front because suppliers no longer trust it to pay later, and employees reportedly haven't been paid since June. On Monday, about 189 passengers were stuck in Ahmedabad for more than 12 hours after a flight to Srinagar never left, and airport sources suspected a fuel supply problem tied to unpaid bills. SpiceJet blamed "technical reasons."
With so few planes, there's no slack. When one aircraft needs maintenance or a supplier holds back, there's no spare to swap in, and the flight simply gets canceled. That's how an airline ends up carrying about 73,000 passengers in September, down roughly 87% from January.
The government has said India's regulator, the DGCA, is looking closely at SpiceJet's finances and operations, and the airline got about ₹150 crore (roughly $17 million) through a government-backed credit line. But so far no one has forced SpiceJet to shrink its schedule to match the planes it actually has, which is why passengers keep buying tickets for flights that don't happen.
India Has Seen This Movie Before
I'll be honest, this is the part that frustrates me most. India is one of the fastest-growing flying markets in the world, and travelers there deserve airlines that are as reliable as the demand is huge. Instead, the country has a habit of watching big-name airlines slowly fall apart while passengers are left holding tickets.
Kingfisher Airlines stopped flying in 2012. Jet Airways, once India's top full-service airline, shut down in 2019. Go First filed for insolvency in 2023 and never came back. Each time, the warning signs were obvious for months: shrinking fleets, unpaid staff, mounting cancellations. SpiceJet is showing every one of them right now.
The flip side is that IndiGo and Air India have grown into giants, and newer Akasa Air is running on time more than 90% of the time. Even IndiGo, which carries about two of every three domestic passengers, had its own mass-cancellation meltdown last December, but it recovered within weeks because it had the planes and the money to fix it. So the problem isn't that India can't run a good airline. It's that weak ones are allowed to keep selling seats long after it's clear they can't fly them.
Booked on SpiceJet? What to Do
First, check your booking in the SpiceJet app or website a day before you fly and again the morning of. If your flight is canceled, you can choose a full refund or a new flight. Under the DGCA's passenger rules, an airline that cancels with less than 24 hours' notice, or less than two weeks' notice without a new flight close to your original time, may also owe you compensation of up to ₹10,000 (about $115), depending on how long the flight is.
If you paid by credit card, the airline is supposed to refund you within seven days. SpiceJet has reportedly been slow, so keep records, and if the refund doesn't arrive, a chargeback through your card company is worth considering. If your trip really matters, like a wedding or an international connection, book a backup on another airline or avoid SpiceJet for now. A refundable fare on IndiGo or Air India costs more, but it costs a lot less than a missed connection. Our guide to what airlines owe you when a flight is canceled covers the general rules, and if you're flying a tight connection, our missed connection explainer walks through your options.
