The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday constituted an eight-member special team to keep a close watch on IndiGo's operations as the airline battles sustained disruptions across its network. As per reports, two officials from the team would be stationed at IndiGo's corporate headquarters and look into daily processes to identify gaps that are affecting flight operations.
The aviation regulator's move comes amid an escalating crisis that has caused thousands of cancellations and delays, severely congesting major airports nationwide and keeping passengers in long queues. As the disruption of IndiGo's services continued to cause passenger congestion, the Ministry of Civil Aviation earlier started a thorough, round-the-clock evaluation of airport operations nationwide.
Senior officials have been sent to key airports, according to Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu, to evaluate ground conditions and make sure that passengers who are stuck or delayed have their issues promptly addressed. In a detailed post on X, Ram Mohan Naidu said the Ministry and the DGCA had been "constantly monitoring the situation across all the airports in real-time since 3rd December", when irregularities in IndiGo's operations began affecting schedules nationwide.
The minister characterised the events as "extraordinary circumstances" that necessitated prompt and ongoing action from the aviation establishment's highest levels. All senior Ministry and DGCA officials attended a high-level review meeting, whose objective was to provide a thorough evaluation of airport operations, airline responsiveness, and the calibre of services offered to travellers impacted by delays and cancellations, he added.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said on Tuesday that the airline's operations have stabilised following days of extensive flight disruptions that left travellers stranded at major airports across the country. The low-cost carriers' planes were grounded because of a severe pilot shortage under the new flight duty limitation regulations.
In a statement on X, Elbers asserted that "IndiGo is back on its feet," with restoration activities moving forward on a "war footing". According to him, the airline has restored its entire network of 138 destinations and now operates more than 1,800 flights daily.
The CEO stated, "Our operations are fully stabilised as of December 9." Elbers further stated that IndiGo has "started to focus internally on what led to the issue", indicating a deeper review of processes and resource planning.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday issued an order cutting the number of flights that IndiGo can operate by 10 per cent after the massive cancellation of flights by the crisis-ridden airline due to an acute pilot shortage under the new flight duty limitation rules. The order comes after the DGCA directed the airline earlier on Tuesday to trim its operations by 5 per cent.