IndiGo hit with record ₹22cr fine for Dec chaos

India's aviation regulator on Saturday imposed a record ₹22.2 crore penalty on IndiGo and issued warnings to six senior executives, including the chief operating officer, after its inquiry found the airline's "overriding focus on maximising utilisation" of crew and aircraft through aggressive cost-cutting drove December's operational meltdown that stranded over 300,000 passengers.

- Neha LM Tripathi

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) four-member inquiry committee determined that "over-optimisation of operations, inadequate regulatory preparedness along with deficiencies in system software support and shortcomings in management structure and operational control" caused the crisis that saw 2,507 flights cancelled and 1,852 delayed between December 3 and 5 last year.

The findings confirm warnings from pilot associations and aviation experts that IndiGo's pursuit of maximum crew and aircraft utilisation with minimal operational buffers created a crisis that it could have avoided, especially since the tighter crew rest (FDTL) rules were unveiled more than two years before they came into effect.

"Crew rosters were designed to maximise duty periods, with increased reliance on deadheading, tail swaps, extended duty patterns, and minimal recovery margins. This approach compromised roster integrity and adversely impacted operational resilience," the committee stated, according to a government release.

The airline's management "failed to adequately identify planning deficiencies, maintain sufficient operational buffer, and effectively implement the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation provisions," resulting in "widespread flight delays and large-scale cancellations," according to the inquiry report submitted to the civil aviation ministry.