DGCA stations officers at IndiGo HQ to monitor internal ops

The aviation regulator on Wednesday stationed a group of officials at Indi Go’s headquarters in Gurugram to monitor the day-to-day internal operations of the country’s largest airline, even as it summoned the airline’s CEO Pieter Elbers on Thursday to provide updates on the recent disruptions which led to cancellation of over 4,200 flights in a span of nine days till December 9.

- DEEPAK PATEL

IndiGo had been operating about 2,300 daily flights — roughly 2,000 domestic and 300 international — until the beginning of this month, when it plunged into an operational crisis after failing to manage its pilot duty roster under the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules that came into effect last month. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday cut its flight schedule by 10 per cent till March. The airline is now operating about 1,900 daily flights.

The DGCA has formed two specialised teams to internally monitor IndiGo’s daily operations. The first is an eight-member “oversight team” of senior flight operations inspectors to review crew management, and the second is a two-member team of senior officers to track passenger-related issues like refunds.

Members of both the teams have been stationed at IndiGo's headquarters in Gurugram on a daily basis, and have been asked to file reports by 6 pm each day to two Joint Director Generals at the DGCA.

"In view of passenger inconvenience caused due to large-scale disruptions in the operations of IndiGo at various airports across the country, it has been decided to constitute an oversight team," the regulator said in the order issued to the airline's CEO Pieter Elbers and its COO Isidre Porqueras.

The airline, in a statement on X on Wednesday, said its board of directors have been closely monitoring the situation and the airline has had "all hands on deck". "Please have faith in us. We are getting there," it added.