Travel plans of thousands of passengers went haywire after IndiGo cancelled about 200 flights on Thursday as it continued to recalibrate its schedule and restore its pilot duty roster in an effort to reach a “normalisation of operations”, a task that Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pieter Elbers has said is not an “easy” one.
“IndiGo has acknowledged that the disruptions have arisen primarily from misjudgement and planning gaps in implementing Phase II of Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) regulations, with the airline accepting that the actual (pilot) crew requirement exceeded their anticipation,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Thursday night.
Delays and cancellations at airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and elsewhere triggered a flurry of social media posts from stranded passengers struggling to get clarity on revised departure schedules. Shares of IndiGo fell as much as 3.4 per cent on Thursday and are down 6 per cent for the week.
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said Minister Ram Mohan Naidu chaired a meeting with IndiGo’s senior executives and DGCA officials.
“Naidu expressed clear displeasure regarding the manner in which the situation has been handled by the airline, and stressed that ample preparatory time had been available to ensure a seamless transition to the new regulatory requirements. The minister further directed IndiGo to urgently normalise operations and to ensure that there is no increase in airfares due to the current situation,” the ministry stated.
The DGCA’s revised FDTL rules entered their second and final phase on November 1, bringing into effect seven clauses that had been deferred during the July rollout. Phase II introduced tighter caps on a pilot’s cumulative flying hours, stricter limits on duty periods during the early-morning “window of circadian low”, and a hard ceiling on the number of consecutive night duties.
The DGCA, in its statement on Thursday night, said IndiGo executives told the regulator that the airline in November required 2,422 captains but had only 2,357 available. During the same period, it needed 2,153 first officers but had 2,194 on hand.
Therefore, the airline informed the DGCA that more cancellations would continue for the next two-three days as part of “schedule stabilisation efforts”. Moreover, from December 8, the airline said it would reduce its overall flight operations to minimise disruption.
“During the meeting, IndiGo informed DGCA that to reduce passenger inconvenience while maintaining safety margins, the airline has requested operational variations/exemptions from specific FDTL provisions para 3.11 and para 6.1.4 for A320 operations up to February 10,” the regulator stated. The airline told the DGCA that “normalised and stable operations” would be fully restored by February 10.
Para 3.11 of the Phase II FDTL rules defines “night duty” as any duty period that overlaps with the hours between 0000 hours and 0600 hours local time in the time zone to which the pilots are acclimatised. Para 6.1.4 places specific restrictions on operations that encroach into this night duty window. It limits the maximum flight time during such operations to 8 hours and the total duty period, including pre- and post-flight tasks, to 10 hours. It also restricts the number of landings during night duty operations, typically allowing only two landings if the roster extends into night hours.
These two provisions are intended to reduce pilot fatigue, particularly during the Window of Circadian Low (WOCL), roughly between 0200 and 0600 hrs, when alertness is at its lowest.
In its statement, the regulator has indicated that it is open to giving relaxations that IndiGo has sought: “IndiGo is directed to submit the FDTL relaxations required to normalise the flight operations for DGCA review.”
The DGCA said IndiGo had been facing significant operational disruptions since late November. “IndiGo has been experiencing a sharp rise in cancellations, reaching approximately 170-200 flights per day, which is substantially higher than normal,” it added.
Moreover, a DGCA team conducted an inspection at Delhi Airport Terminal 1, which has witnessed the highest passenger impact. “The team observed that IndiGo’s passenger-handling manpower was inadequate to manage disruption-induced crowding. The airline has been instructed to urgently increase manpower and strengthen passenger-support services at all affected terminals,” it added.
The DGCA asked IndiGo to submit a detailed road map covering “projected crew recruitment vis-a-vis induction of aircraft which shall be reviewed by DGCA”.
Meanwhile, the Federation of India Pilots said the recent spate of cancellations could not be attributed to the Delhi High Court-mandated FDTL norms. It argued that the airline had a two-year preparatory window during which it had “inexplicably adopted a hiring freeze, entered non-poaching agreements, maintained a pilot pay freeze through cartel-like behaviour, and engaged in other short-sighted planning practices”.
The regulator had informed the Delhi HC in February that Phase I (comprising 15 clauses) would be implemented from July 1, and Phase II (comprising seven clauses) from November 1. This gave IndiGo at least nine months to prepare for this situation.
In an email to employees on Thursday, Elbers said the immediate goal of normalising flight operations and restoring punctuality “in the coming days” was “not an easy target”, but he added that staff were doing a lot of work and would prove their mettle once again.
Reiterating what the IndiGo had stated on Wednesday, Elbers told employees that several operational challenges, including minor technology glitches, schedule changes, adverse weather, heightened congestion across the aviation ecosystem, and the implementation of the new FDTL norms, had compounded to create a cascading impact on operations.
“Given the size, scale and complexity of our network, these disruptions grow large immediately and require interventions on multiple levels and dimensions. For that a lot of work is being conducted right now. Our immediate goal is to normalise our operations and bring punctuality back on track in the coming days, which is not an easy target,” he stated.
“But this is the time for all of us to come together, prove our mettle once again and showcase what IndiGo truly stands for. Just a few days ago, we performed remarkably well as a united team to achieve an unimaginable feat of upgrading 200 aircraft (A320s) in less than 24 hours. I am confident we all can deal with this challenge too,” he added.
He was referring to the November 28 directive from aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which stated that solar radiation could corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls on A320-family aircraft. As a result, most A320s required a software upgrade, which Indian carriers, including IndiGo, completed within two days.
