Centre sets up panel to probe IndiGo meltdown, freezes fatigue guidelines

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Friday suspended the DGCA’s new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) order with immediate effect citing “the interest of passengers” and set up a four-member inquiry committee to investigate IndiGo’s operational collapse.

The abeyance came as chaos unfolded across airports nationwide, with thousands of passengers stranded after IndiGo cancelled more than 1,000 flights for the day.

Airports in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Patna, Goa and Chandigarh among others witnessed long queues and overcrowded terminals with angry travellers demanding refunds or alternative arrangements as the ground staff struggled to manage the surge. Delhi and Chennai halted all departures till midnight after IndiGo’s disruptions cascaded through the day.

The ministry said schedules were expected to stabilise by Saturday and normalise within three days. It directed the airlines to offer automatic refunds, hotel accommodation, lounge access, assistance to senior citizens and persons with disabilities, and ensure refreshments and essential services for all stranded travellers. A 24X7 control room has been activated to coordinate corrective measures.

IndiGo’s operations — normally over 2,300 flights a day — were hit the hardest on Friday, with more than 1,000 cancellations. CEO Pieter Elbers, in a video message, apologised to the passengers and acknowledged that Friday had been “the most severely impacted”, saying the disruptions were the result of “various causes”. He said the flights were cancelled deliberately “to align the crew and planes to be where they need to start afresh on Saturday morning”. Elbers said the cancellations on Saturday were expected to fall below 1,000 and full normalisation was anticipated only between December 10 and 15, given the complexity of IndiGo’s network. The DGCA rolled back, with immediate effect, a core provision of the new fatigue rules that barred the airlines from treating a pilot’s leave as a substitute for the mandatory weekly rest. This clause, part of the first FDTL phase implemented on July 1, has been withdrawn “in view of the ongoing operational disruptions” and following representations from airlines seeking continuity and stability.

The change means the airlines no longer have to differentiate between leave and weekly rest while drafting rosters. A pilot taking 48 hours of earned leave will now be considered to have completed weekly rest, an adjustment a pilots’ union said weakened restorative-rest norms and “favours operators”.

“It’s confusing as to how the whole FDTL civil aviation requirements (CAR) are held in abeyance. Very strange as the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) had objected to dispensations by the DGCA on the CAR…,” said CS Randhawa, president of the FIP.

Along with this rollback, the DGCA offered a temporary exemption for night-time operations till February 10, subject to a 15-day review cycle and a requirement that the airlines present a 30-day roadmap to return to full compliance.

ALPA India, representing IndiGo’s cockpit crew, accused the regulator of making “layered, selective and unsafe concessions” that “directly endanger safety”. It alleged that passengers travelling on IndiGo were now exposed to a lower level of fatigue protection than those on other carriers. “Aviation safety norms cannot differ from airline to airline based on commercial interest,” the union said in its letter to the DGCA.

DGCA chief Faiz Ahmed Kidwai appealed to pilots’ unions across airlines to cooperate during the winter travel rush, warning that rising passenger volumes and adverse weather could further strain network stability.

The ministry said its abeyance of the FDTL order was a temporary measure “solely in the interests of passengers” and reaffirmed that safety would remain paramount. The high-level inquiry committee, comprising four DGCA officials, including SK Bhramhane (Joint Director General) and Amit Gupta (Deputy DG), will examine what went wrong at IndiGo, identify accountability wherever required, and recommend measures to prevent similar breakdowns in the future.