India’s aviation regulator has issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo’s Chief Executive Officer, holding him accountable for a week-long operational crisis that left thousands of passengers stranded across the country and forced the airline to cancel nearly a thousand flights in a single day.
The notice marks one of the most severe interventions by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in recent years and follows mounting public anger over what officials described as “massive disruptions resulting in severe inconvenience, hardship and distress to passengers”.
According to the DGCA, the primary trigger for the crisis was IndiGo’s failure to make “adequate arrangements” for the rollout of revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) for pilots, a change notified months in advance and effective from November 1. The regulator said the airline’s inability to adjust its rosters and resources in time led to widespread cancellations, delays, crew shortages and cascading disruption across its 138-destination network.
“It has been observed that scheduled flights of M/s Indigo Airlines have recently faced massive disruptions resulting in severe inconvenience, hardship and distress to passengers,” the notice read.
“It has also been noticed that the primary cause of said flight disruptions is non-provisioning of adequate arrangements to cater to the revised requirements for smooth implementation of the approved FDTL scheme for the airline.”
The notice accuses IndiGo of failing to plan for revised duty and rest requirements for cockpit crew, non-compliance with Rule 42A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, violations of multiple Civil Aviation Requirements (CARs) governing duty periods and failing to provide information, assistance, or facilities mandated for passengers during cancellations and delays.