DGCA steps in after IndiGo cancels hundreds of flights

 

 

 

AIR travel across India remained in chaos for a fourth straight day on Friday as IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, scrapped over 1,000 flights, including all departures from New Delhi, leaving thousands of passengers stranded for several hours at a stretch with little clarity on alternatives. The crisis, sparked after IndiGo -- which controls about two-thirds of India’s domestic traffic -- failed to plan for new pilot flying-time regulations, leaving travellers missing everything from wedding receptions to job interviews and onward international connections. Meanwhile, the aviation watchdog also set up a four-member committee to carry out a comprehensive review and assessment of the circumstances that led to the massive flight disruptions.

 

As more than 1,000 flights were cancelled, the airline’s CEO Pieter Elbers said the situation is anticipated to normalise between December 10-15. As anger mounted and Opposition parties attacked the Government for doing nothing, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots’ weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allowed only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to “misjudgement and planning gaps”. On Friday, Delhi airport announced all IndiGo departures for the day -- around 235 flights -- were cancelled. Chennai airport similarly halted all departures to major metro destinations until 6 pm. The issue has figured in Parliament as well. Easing flight duty norms, the DGCA allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period. IndiGo’s on-time performance plummeted to 8.5 per cent on Thursday, with worsening operational disruptions impacting flight schedules.

 

The DGCA appointed panel members are Joint Director General Sanjay K Bramhane, Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, Senior Flight Operations Inspector Captain Kapil Manglik and Flight Operations Inspector Captain Rampal, as per an order on Friday. The committee will submit its findings and recommendations to the DGCA within 15 days to enable necessary regulatory enforcement action and ensure institutional strengthening, the order said. According to the order, prima facie, the situation indicates deficiencies in internal oversight, operational preparedness, and compliance planning, “warranting an independent examination”.

 

The DGCA said it has issued repeated directions and advance instructions from time to time to the airline for having timely preparation to implement the provisions related to the FDTL norms. The regulator observed the airline’s inability to accurately forecast crew availability, conduct timely training, and realign rosters despite advance regulatory intimation resulted in cascading delays and cancellations across its network beginning late November 2025 leading to non-adherence of the directions. Meanwhile, airfares reached levels never seen before on Friday, with a one-way one-stop economy-class SpiceJet Kolkata-Mumbai flight ticket for December 6 costing up to Rs 90,000, and a similar ticket of Air India for Mumbai-Bhubaneswar going up to Rs 84,485, according to the airlines' websites. A similar trend was noted on many other high-traffic routes. Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said complete restoration of services is expected in next three days.