IndiGo flights hit by pilot rest rules, weather, leaves

DGCA probing disruption, working with IndiGo to minimize inconvenience

- Abhishek Law

IndiGo's operations were thrown into disarray on Wednesday as a growing pilot shortage and a surge in crew leave requests delayed flights by hours and crippled schedules across major hubs, including Bengaluru and Mumbai.

The disruption comes just weeks after stricter flight-duty and rest norms took full effect on 1 November.

“A multitude of unforeseen operational challenges including minor technology glitches, schedule changes linked to the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system and implementation of updated crew rostering rules (Flight Duty Time Limitations) had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated,” IndiGo said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

India’s largest airline said that its network was affected “for the past two days” adding that calibrated adjustments were being made and normalisation was expected in 48 hours.