DGCA fines IndiGo ₹22.20 crore over December flight chaos

DGCA fines IndiGo ₹22.20 crore and seeks ₹50‑crore guarantee after December flight chaos, citing poor rostering, planning lapses, and FDTL violations

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a hefty penalty of ₹22.20 crore on IndiGo following massive flight disruptions in December. The regulator also directed the airline to furnish a ₹50‑crore bank guarantee to ensure long‑term systemic reforms after a probe revealed serious lapses in planning, rostering, and regulatory compliance.

The investigation was ordered after IndiGo cancelled 2,507 flights and delayed 1,852 services between December 3 and 5. The disruptions were linked to the airline’s inability to assign sufficient crew under newly revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms, which mandated longer rest periods for pilots. While DGCA acknowledged IndiGo’s swift recovery in restoring operations, it concluded that the airline’s management failed to anticipate planning deficiencies and maintain adequate operational buffers.

DGCA cautioned IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers for inadequate oversight of flight operations and crisis management. The Senior Vice‑President of the Operations Control Centre was asked to be relieved of accountable responsibilities, while warnings were issued to the Deputy Head–Flight Operations, AVP–Crew Resource Planning, and Director–Flight Operations for lapses in manpower planning, supervisory control, and roster management. IndiGo has been instructed to take disciplinary action against other personnel identified in its internal inquiry and submit a compliance report.

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The probe highlighted that IndiGo’s overriding focus on maximising crew and aircraft utilisation reduced roster buffer margins. Crew schedules relied heavily on extended duty patterns, tail swaps, and dead‑heading, leaving minimal recovery margins and compromising operational resilience.

Penalties of ₹30 lakh each were levied on six counts, including failure to implement FDTL compliance schemes, inadequate buffer margins, poor balance between commercial priorities and crew welfare, and non‑compliance with operational responsibilities. Additionally, a daily fine of ₹30 lakh was imposed for continued violations of FDTL provisions over 68 days, taking the total penalty to ₹22.20 crore.

The ₹50‑crore bank guarantee is tied to the ‘IndiGo Systemic Reform Assurance Scheme’ (ISRAS), which mandates reforms across four pillars: leadership and governance, manpower planning and fatigue‑risk management, digital systems and resilience, and board‑level oversight. Release of the guarantee will depend on DGCA‑verified compliance at each stage, ensuring reforms are closely monitored in coordination with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

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