From Our Correspondent
India’s leading airline, IndiGo, is cancelling hundreds of flights daily, throwing travel plans into disarray and affecting thousands of passengers, including tourists, business travellers and families. The crisis stems from IndiGo’s inability to comply with new DGCA Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms, which require longer weekly rest for pilots, limits on night landings, and strict fatigue reporting.
IndiGo, which operates 417 aircraft, 2,200 daily flights, 90 domestic and 40 international routes, has long relied on maximising aircraft and crew utilisation—especially night operations. With 63% market share, even minor disruptions trigger nationwide chaos; massive cancellations have now sparked widespread concern.
DGCA finalised FDTL rules a year ago, but IndiGo failed to recruit enough pilots and cabin crew to meet the new standards. Phase-2 norms, effective November 1, sharply cut permissible night landings, hitting IndiGo hardest because of its heavy night schedule.
As a result, the airline cancelled 755 flights in November alone, followed by daily mass cancellations in December.
To ease the crisis, DGCA has temporarily relaxed rules on weekly rest and night duties, but pilot bodies accuse the regulator of yielding to airline pressure. The Federation of Indian Pilots criticised IndiGo for freezing hiring and ignoring long-term planning, saying other carriers complied smoothly.
Industry estimates suggest IndiGo now needs at least 500 more pilots and corresponding cabin crew to fully meet FDTL norms. Only then can operations stabilise and India’s worst aviation disruption begin to ease.