IndiGo operations stabilised; sufficient pilots to meet flight duty rules: DGCA

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA on Tuesday said that sustained regulatory oversight and corrective action have helped stabilise operations at IndiGoIt said that the airline now has an adequate number of pilots to comply with the revised flight duty norms without causing further disruptionThe airline faced operational problems due to crew shortages weak planning and system issues leading to a high number of disrupted flightsThe Ministry of Civil Aviation MoCA and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA intervened to oversee the airlinersquos recovery and ensure compliance with safety rulesRegulatory oversight following major disruptionThe disruption in December was linked to the airlinersquos failure to maintain adequate flight crew buffers and insufficient operational planning Crew rosters were found to be operating at the limits of permissible duty hours with heavy reliance on deadheading tail swaps and extended duty patternsThis approach left little room for recovery and weakened the airlinersquos ability to meet the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations FDTLIn response MoCA and DGCA stepped in to ensure stability and protect passengersDGCA placed inspectors at operations centresFrom December 6 to December 30 2025 DGCA deployed two Flight Operations Inspectors FOIs at IndiGorsquos Operations Control Centre OCC and at major airports Passenger facilitation teams were also placed at key locations the official statement saidThese teams monitored daytoday operations passenger handling and compliance with regulations during the recovery phase Daily and weekly reporting required IndiGo was required to submit daily reports covering Flight cancellations and delays Crew positioning and availability Crew leave and standby usage System performance and operational KPIsWeekly and fortnightly reports were also demanded including a Corrective Action Plan CAP to ensure operational stability and full compliance with the revised FDTL rulesAirline reports adequate pilot strengthIn the latest review meeting on January 19 2026 IndiGo reported that it has sufficient pilots for its planned networkThe airlinersquos reported numbers as of February 10 2026 wereCategory RequirementAvailableAirbus PIC22802400Airbus First Officers20502240IndiGo also assured the DGCA that there would be no flight cancellations after February 10 2026 due to pilot or crew shortages The assurance came after the removal of two temporary FDTL exemptions granted in December the statement further saidOfficial commentsAlthough IndiGo has not issued an official statement to the media an anonymous executive saidldquoIf we have assured the regulator DGCA that no cancellations would take place due to FDTLrelated reasons such as pilot shortage or crew shortage then we will do our best to deliver on it There might be other cancellations which could be due to technical or weatherrelated reasons but we will do our best to not have cancellationsrdquo