More than a month after facing massive disruptions in its flight operations, IndiGo on Tuesday (February 10) said it is maintaining optimal staffing levels to ensure smooth and stable operations. The statement comes as the regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) temporarily relaxes the pilot service norms for the country’s largest airline.
Several reasons led to the December outages, including a lack of regulatory preparedness, deficiencies in system software support, and weaknesses in IndiGo’s management structure and operational controls. The watchdog also reduced the carrier’s winter flights by 10 percent.
Some relaxations in the implementation of FDTL standards were approved until 10 February as the airline saw 2,507 flight cancellations between 3 and 5 December. IndiGo, whose domestic market share fell to 59.6 percent in December from 63.6 percent in November, operates around 2,200 flights a day.
On January 20, the DGCA said that continued regulatory oversight and corrective measures have helped stabilize operations at IndiGo and the airline now has sufficient number of pilots to ensure compliance with the new norms for uninterrupted flight services.
The watchdog then said there were 2,400 pilots in command (PIC) against a request for 2,280, and the number of first officers was 2,240 compared with a request for 2,050.
A spokesman for the airline said: “As previously assured to regulators, we are maintaining an optimal pool of staff, including pilots, to ensure stable operations across our network.” Also read | IndiGo didn’t post warning signs before cancellation, Govt tells Parliament – ‘It will lead by example’
The airline has also been given a temporary exemption, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol told the Rajya Sabha.
He stated that the temporary exemption was granted from “the provisions of Articles 3.11 and 6.1.4 of FDTL CAR 7/J/III … until 10.02.2026 only to promote operational stabilization in the public interest”.
These provisions relate to night duty for pilots and night landings.
The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has emphasized the importance of implementing the revised FDTL without providing any exemptions to address pilot fatigue issues.
“The importance of FDTL cannot be overemphasized and all regulatory bodies are strictly following these rules for the safety of persons. The country’s growing aviation sector must ensure safety through full implementation of rules and increased oversight of air operators. Aviation safety should always be non-negotiable,” FIP President CS Randhawa said in a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Samir Kumar Sinha on Sunday.