DGCA slaps Rs 22.2-crore penalty on IndiGo for flight disruptions in December

Aviation watchdog DGCA on Saturday imposed a Rs 22.20-crore penalty on IndiGo for last month’s massive flight disruptions and issued stern warnings to airline chief Pieter Elbers as well as two other senior executives.

Besides, the regulator directed the airline to furnish Rs 50-crore bank guarantee to ensure compliance with its directives and long-term systemic correction.

IndiGo cancelled hundreds of flights early in December, leaving thousands of passengers stranded across the country, as the airline was not adequately prepared to implement the new flight duty norms for pilots.

Following the large-scale disruptions in IndiGo operations, DGCA set up a four-member committee headed by Joint Director General Sanjay K Brahmane to carry out a comprehensive review and assessment of the circumstances that led to such disruptions.

The panel submitted its report to DGCA on December 27 last year.

“We are not taking this situation easily. We are doing an inquiry. We will take very, very strict action not only for this situation but also as an example,” Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu had said, on IndiGo’s massive operational disruptions, in the Rajya Sabha on December 8.