Aviation Regulator's Notice To IndiGo CEO Over "Massive" Flight Disruptions

India's aviation regulator has issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo's Chief Executive Officer, holding him accountable for a week-long operational crisis that left thousands of passengers stranded across the country and forced the airline to cancel nearly a thousand flights in a single day.

The notice marks one of the most severe interventions by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in recent years and follows mounting public anger over what officials described as "massive disruptions resulting in severe inconvenience, hardship and distress to passengers".

According to the DGCA, the primary trigger for the crisis was IndiGo's failure to make "adequate arrangements" for the rollout of revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) for pilots, a change notified months in advance and effective from November 1. The regulator said the airline's inability to adjust its rosters and resources in time led to widespread cancellations, delays, crew shortages and cascading disruption across its 138-destination network.

"It has been observed that scheduled flights of M/s Indigo Airlines have recently faced massive disruptions resulting in severe inconvenience, hardship and distress to passengers," the notice read. 

"It has also been noticed that the primary cause of said flight disruptions is non-provisioning of adequate arrangements to cater to the revised requirements for smooth implementation of the approved FDTL scheme for the airline." 

The notice accuses IndiGo of failing to plan for revised duty and rest requirements for cockpit crew, non-compliance with Rule 42A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, violations of multiple Civil Aviation Requirements (CARs) governing duty periods and failing to provide information, assistance, or facilities mandated for passengers during cancellations and delays.

"As the CEO, you are responsible for ensuring effective management of the airline," the document states. "You have failed in your duty to ensure timely arrangements for conduct of reliable operations and the availability of requisite facilities to passengers."

The CEO has been directed to respond within 24 hours, failing which the regulator will "decide the matter ex parte", potentially opening the door to penalties ranging from financial sanctions to operational restrictions.

After five days of travel chaos, the airline said it had restored 95 per cent of its network, operating to 135 of its 138 destinations by Saturday. It expects to run more than 1,500 flights by the end of the day.

In a statement, IndiGo again apologised for the week's disruptions, saying it was "committed to build back the trust of our customers".

On Friday, nearly a thousand flights -- the airline's worst single-day disruption -- were cancelled. The carrier said it managed to operate "a little above 700 flights" that day while attempting what it called a network-wide "reboot".

"The main objective was to reboot the network, systems, and rosters so that we could start afresh today with a higher number of flights, improved stability," an airline spokesperson said.