Civil Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Friday said complete normalcy in flight operations is expected within the next three days, announcing that the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules have been placed in abeyance with immediate effect to curb the cascading crisis triggered by IndiGo’s crew shortage. “With initiation of various operational steps, flight schedules are expected to begin to stabilise and return to normal by Saturday,” he said, adding that the rollback of FDTL Phase-II norms was aimed solely at stabilising services for passengers caught in the disruption.
The minister also ordered a high-level inquiry into the airline’s handling of the situation and issued fresh directions to IndiGo to mitigate passenger inconvenience. Airlines must now ensure automatic full refunds for all cancellations, hotel accommodation for stranded passengers, and lounge access for senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Regular and accurate online updates have been mandated, and a 24×7 control room has been activated by the ministry to oversee real-time corrective action.
The looming IndiGo crisis
The crisis has spiralled since IndiGo failed to align its crew planning and training with the revised rest and duty rules, resulting in hundreds of cancellations over the last three days and scenes of passengers marooned at airports. On Friday, Delhi airport cancelled all IndiGo departures — around 235 flights — while Chennai halted all departures to major metros until 6 pm. Cancellations mounted across Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad as well, with airport sources putting the numbers at 104, 102 and 92 respectively.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which pulled up IndiGo on Thursday, said the airline had ignored repeated instructions to prepare for the revised rules. In a detailed order, the regulator said IndiGo had been unable to accurately forecast crew availability, conduct timely training or rework rosters, triggering cascading delays and cancellations since late November. During a review meeting, the airline admitted to significant planning and assessment gaps in rolling out Phase-II of the FDTL CAR 2024. According to the DGCA, the lack of preparedness led to 170–200 daily cancellations and indicated deficiencies in internal oversight, operational preparedness and compliance planning.
DGCA has constituted a four-member committee to examine the circumstances that led to the disruption and recommend regulatory action. In an unprecedented step, the DGCA has also directed its own inspectors, who are qualified pilots usually barred from commercial flying during their tenure, to operate IndiGo flights if required to stabilise operations.
The withdrawal of the weekly rest rule and broader FDTL relaxation has drawn criticism from the Airline Pilots’ Association of India, which accused the DGCA of granting selective and unsafe dispensations. The association alleged that IndiGo had expanded its winter schedule despite knowing the new rest rules were coming and later created an artificial crisis to seek regulatory relief. It warned that any fatigue-related incident would rest on the regulator’s shoulders.
What did the ministry say?
The ministry, however, said the temporary rollback has been made without compromising on air safety and is intended to prioritise passengers, especially senior citizens, students and medical travellers, until schedules stabilise. It expects flight operations to return to normal by Saturday, with complete restoration in three days.
IndiGo, which carries two out of every three domestic flyers, acknowledged its missteps in crew planning. Its CEO Pieter Elbers issued a video apology on Friday, saying the airline had decided on a system-wide reboot to progressively improve stability. “Regrettably, earlier measures of the last few days have proven not to be enough,” he said. “With these actions, we expect tomorrow (Saturday) to have cancellations below 1,000. The support of DGCA, in providing specific FDTL implementation relief, is of great help.” The airline expects operations to normalise between December 10 and 15 and has announced full refunds on all cancellations from December 5–15.
Meanwhile, other carriers have begun stepping in to plug critical gaps, with SpiceJet adding nearly 30 flights from Delhi and Mumbai to meet demand as IndiGo works to restore its network.