DGCA gives in to IndiGo's demands, eases duty rules

The civil aviation regulator DGCA on Friday capitulated to IndiGo's demands and granted a onetime exemption from crew fatigue rules introduced last month, even as India's biggest airline cancelled over 1,000 flights-more than half its daily operations-in the most catastrophic day of a meltdown that has stranded tens of thousands of passengers across four days and led to angry scenes at airports.

- Neha LM Tripathi

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) granted IndiGo relief from provisions limiting pilot duty hours at night until February 10, rules that were first announced in January 2024. The regulator insisted the exemption was granted "solely to facilitate operational stabilisation and in no way amounts to dilution of safety requirements" and it would monitor IndiGo's remedial measures as well as probe the reasons behind the disruptions.

The exemptions extend well beyond the primary relief from nighttime flight duty limitations. The regulator authorised IndiGo to redeploy pilots currently on deputation with DGCA as inspectors back to flying duties. Separately, it withdrew a rule that prevented airlines from counting pilot leave as weekly rest to meet flying duty norms.

On Friday, the airline cancelled most, if not all, flights from some of India's busiest airports: Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, in addition to 12 smaller airports, such as Kanpur, Itanagar, Deoghar and Khajuraho, where the airline is the sole medium-haul carrier. The airline, which commands 60% of India's domestic market, has now cancelled approximately 1,600 flights since Tuesday, when the crisis erupted into public view.

IndiGo's chief executive Pieter Elbers admitted in a video message to customers that "earlier measures of the last few days have proven not to be enough".

"So we decided today for a reboot of all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest number of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting tomorrow onwards," Elbers said, adding that the airline expects cancellations to fall below 1,000 on Saturday.

The company's on-time performance for Thursday, when roughly 300-400 flights were cancelled, stood at an abysmal 8.5%.