IndiGo, which faced massive flight disruptions in early December, on Tuesday said it has an optimum pool of staff to ensure stable operations as regulator DGCA's temporary pilot duty norm relaxations for the country's largest airline come to an end.
Over-optimisation of operations, inadequate regulatory preparedness, along with deficiencies in system software support and shortcomings in management structure and operational control at IndiGo were among the key reasons that led to the disruptions, following which the watchdog had also curtailed the carrier's winter schedule flights by 10 per cent.
Against the backdrop of IndiGo cancelling 2,507 flights between December 3 and 5, the DGCA approved the airline's request for certain relaxations in implementing the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms till February 10.
IndiGo, which saw its domestic market share slump to 59.6 per cent in December from 63.6 per cent in November, operates around 2,200 flights daily.
On January 20, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said sustained regulatory oversight as well as corrective measures have helped stabilise operations at IndiGo, and the airline now has an adequate number of pilots to ensure compliance with the new flight duty norms without disruptions.
Citing the airline's submissions, the watchdog had said there were 2,400 Pilots in Command (PICs) as against the requirement for 2,280, and the number of First Officers was 2,240 compared to the requirement for 2,050.
An airline spokesperson on Tuesday said the airline has already integrated the new set of rules in its crew rosters and planning.
"As assured to the regulatory authorities earlier, we are maintaining an optimum pool of employees, including pilots, to ensure stable operations across our network," the spokesperson said in a statement.
On Monday, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol told the Rajya Sabha that IndiGo has been given temporary exemption from the "provisions of Clauses 3.11 and 6.1.4 of FDTL CAR 7/J/III ...up to 10.02.2026 solely to support operational stabilisation in view of public interest".
These clauses pertain to night duty time for pilots and flight landings in night time.
The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has emphasised the importance of implementing the revised FDTL without providing any exemptions to address pilot fatigue issues.
"The importance of FDTL cannot be overemphasised, and all regulatory bodies strictly follow these rules in the interest of passenger safety. The growing aviation sector in the country must ensure safety through the total implementation of rules and increased oversight of the air operators. Air safety should always be non-negotiable," FIP President C S Randhawa said in a letter to Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha on Sunday.
Randhawa on Tuesday told PTI that IndiGo started cancelling flights from December 2, and the same went on till December 11, but the DGCA probe panel mainly looked into only the flight cancellations that happened between December 3 and 5. This aspect also should be looked into, he noted.
Between December 3 and 5, the DGCA said, 2,507 flights were cancelled, and 1,852 flights were delayed, impacting over 3 lakh passengers at airports across the country.
In the wake of the massive disruptions in December, DGCA curtailed the airline's winter schedule services by 10 per cent and, after an investigation, imposed penalties totalling Rs 22.20 crore and also directed it to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 50 crore to ensure compliance with directives and long-term systemic corrective measures.
Besides, the watchdog has issued warnings to IndiGo's senior management for deficiencies in oversight, planning and implementation of revised FDTL norms, directed the removal of the concerned SVP from operational responsibilities, and instructed the airline to take further action and submit a compliance report.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
