New DelhiTroubled IndiGo has told DGCA that it is going to reduce the number of its flights from December 8, The company says that all its operations will be completely stable only by February 10, 2026, Due to continuous cancellation of flights in the last few days, dissatisfaction among passengers has increased and long queues have been seen at many airports,
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) held a detailed review meeting with top officials of IndiGo. It was revealed in the meeting that the biggest reason for wrong decisions and lack of planning while implementing the flight duty time limit i.e. the second phase of FDTL rules was.
DGCA investigation and first big comment
DGCA said after the meeting that IndiGo did not make adequate preparations when the new FDTL rules came into effect. What happened was that the need for pilots and cabin crew suddenly increased and the company did not have that many people available. This is the reason why more than 500 flights had to be canceled in the last few days.
DGCA has sought a detailed plan from the airline which includes crew recruitment timeline, training schedule, roster rebalancing, safety risk assessment and mitigation measures. The agency says that unless the airline shows concrete improvements on these points, operations will not be considered normal.
What did Indigo tell?
IndiGo has told the regulator that corrective steps are underway and the company will restore full stable operations by February 10, 2026. This means that the number of flights may undergo further fluctuations in the coming months. The company has also made it clear that from December 8, it will reduce both routes and frequency so that the schedule can be run with the existing crew.
The airline has also informed DGCA that it will soon increase crew hiring and there will be a big expansion in training slots so that the issue of staff shortage can be eliminated by next year.
Strict warning from the ministry
The Civil Aviation Ministry has clearly told the airlines that care should be taken to ensure minimum inconvenience to the passengers. The ministry has given instructions to provide real-time updates, speed up the refund process and ensure alternative flight arrangements.
DGCA has ordered IndiGo to re-submit all the information related to relaxation in FDTL rules so that if necessary, temporary relaxation can be given and some flights can be saved.
what is the root of this suffering
- Indigo’s current crisis did not arise in a day. There are many layers behind this.
- In the second phase of FDTL, the rules regarding duty and rest hours of pilots and crew are very strict. Indigo took these changes lightly and planned less crew than required.
- The company rapidly increased routes and frequencies in the last months but did not increase the crew in the same proportion.
- Last month, DGCA imposed more vigilance rules on airlines after several pilots complained internally that they were flying in a state of constant fatigue.
- Due to the new rules, the company suddenly needed additional training slots but the training infrastructure was already overloaded.
- The result was that even small delays and mismatches caused crew availability to collapse and flights started getting cancelled.
That is, the whole controversy started with crew planning mistakes, miscalculations and ignorance of FDTL rules and now it has turned into a major operational crisis.
(with language input)
