India’s aviation regulator has begun strong punitive action following IndiGo’s unprecedented operational collapse. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has sacked four flight operations inspectors who were responsible for overseeing IndiGo’s compliance and safety processes. The regulator has not disclosed the exact reasons behind the dismissals, but the move signals a sharp crackdown after last week’s nationwide chaos that left lakhs of passengers stranded.
On the same day, DGCA summoned IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers to appear before a four-member inquiry panel for two consecutive days. The committee is probing the root causes of the meltdown, which saw more than 1,000 flights cancelled on December 5 alone and on-time performance plunge to 30%.
The government has already ordered IndiGo to reduce 10% of its daily flights while DGCA teams monitor operations, refunds, and rostering directly from IndiGo’s headquarters. Flight disruptions have eased, with IndiGo operating around 1,950 flights on Thursday and OTP climbing back above 92%.
The crisis stemmed from the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules, which took effect on November 1. With a pre-existing crew shortage, IndiGo struggled to implement revised duty-rest schedules. Some aviation experts allege that non-compliance may have been intentional to pressure the government into rolling back the safety norms.
The crackdown marks one of the toughest enforcement actions against an Indian airline in recent years.
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