- The Core
- Posts
- IndiGo’s Crisis Won’t Be Over Soon
IndiGo’s Crisis Won’t Be Over Soon
In partnership with
Good Morning. We come to you with a special edition this Saturday morning, because, well, IndiGo's crisis has thrown everyone's day off course. Hopefully, all of you are where you need to be and did not have to go through the hassle of taking a flight anywhere.
When India's largest airline crash lands, it's a problem and exposes how thin the margins are in Indian aviation. Air travel in India has been crippled by IndiGo’s “operational issues”. So much so that the regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has relaxed crew members’ weekly rest under the flight duty time limitation (FDTL) rules.
But will this help? And who is to blame for the crisis that has cost thousands of Indians time, money and mental peace?
IndiGo’s Crisis Forces Govt Rule Rollback, But It Is Not Over Yet
What?
After three consecutive days of widespread cancellations and delays, operations at IndiGo, India’s largest airline, continued to be unstable through the fourth day, with frustrated passengers stranded at airports across India. On Friday, over 1000 flights were cancelled.
IndiGo cancelled all departures from Delhi until midnight on Friday, after hours of erratic flight schedules and staffing gaps. In certain sectors, thanks to IndiGo’s cancellations, flight tickets became as expensive as Rs 1 lakh.
Aviation analyst Mark Martin said the situation on the ground went beyond crew shortages.
“I know passengers in Delhi whose flights were suddenly cancelled with no support. Pilots weren’t available — that happens — but even the check-in and ground staff didn’t show up. Where were they? Why wasn't the airport staffed? That’s not a shortage, that’s a system breakdown,” Martin told The Core.
Regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) convened on Thursday to assess the disruption and determine next steps for restoring operations.
Why?
Following mounting cancellations and operational paralysis, the DGCA held a meeting with pilot unions mid-afternoon on December 5. A key decision was taken: temporary relaxation of the newly implemented FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) Phase-II rules — the very regulation IndiGo cited as a trigger for its staffing crisis.
IndiGo’s challenge stemmed from the rollout of Phase-II FDTL norms, which tightened night duty limits and restricted schedules spilling into late-night periods. The airline argued that the new rules reduced crew availability and disrupted rostering, especially during peak winter operations.
An IndiGo pilot, on condition of anonymity, said the decision came after escalating pressure. “The Minister of Civil Aviation called all the pilot bodies. He said they were left with no choice but to take action to restore normalcy”.
What’s Next?
These exemptions mean IndiGo can now schedule pilots to fly longer hours at night and continue flying even if their duty stretches past the time normally considered as night duty.
While government intervention may stabilise schedules in the coming days, experts say full recovery is unlikely until IndiGo fixes deeper structural issues.
A spokesperson from the Federation of Indian Pilots said IndiGo holds the cards now.
“This entire situation has been created by IndiGo, for IndiGo. What happens next really depends on them. Tomorrow morning, they could simply say, ‘Okay, everything is normal now,’” the spokesperson said.
Banish bad ads for good
Your site, your ad choices.
Don’t let intrusive ads ruin the experience for the audience you've worked hard to build.
With Google AdSense, you can ensure only the ads you want appear on your site, making it the strongest and most compelling option.
Don’t just take our word for it. DIY Eule, one of Germany’s largest sewing content creators says, “With Google AdSense, I can customize the placement, amount, and layout of ads on my site.”
Google AdSense gives you full control to customize exactly where you want ads—and where you don't. Use the powerful controls to designate ad-free zones, ensuring a positive user experience.
‘They Have Got Away Scot-Free’: Aviation Safety Strategist Calls For Probe On IndiGo Crisis
What really led to IndiGo’s chaos and crisis? That’s a question everyone is asking.
Captain Amit Singh, a pilot and an aviation safety strategist, told The Core on Thursday that he did not perceive this as a staffing or a scheduling issue. He said, “From a planning point of view, there is no issue. The basic issue is, what they have cited is the flight duty time limitations. So it is not that something happened on the first of December or the second of December that they woke up, that, oh, we are short by so many hundred pilots.”
According to Singh flight schedules are planned way ahead of time, where the pilots are assigned to particular flights on the roster.
“How is the plan that you have an empty chart with all the flights? First, you planned a training that so many pilots are on training, but that is mandatory. Other safety training or courses and leave, then whatever is left that you plot against each flight,” Singh said.
Who Will Pay For This?
While the airline has put out multiple apologies to flyers, the reality remains that thousands of passengers across the country have suffered and lost money. Singh questioned how they would be compensated.
“A lot of people may have lost a lot of money, a lot of precious time and businesses may have been affected. People who are going for medical treatment may be affected. So who's responsible for this?” asked Singh and added that the DGCA must
Singh also said that IndiGo “deliberately” led to this situation, because of which the public suffered and got away scot-free.
In the full interview, Singh details how airlines manipulate the system, why India’s FDTL rules are unscientific compared to EASA, and what kind of inquiry is urgently needed.
AI is all the rage, but are you using it to your advantage?
Successful AI transformation starts with deeply understanding your organization’s most critical use cases. We recommend this practical guide from You.com that walks through a proven framework to identify, prioritize, and document high-value AI opportunities. Learn more with this AI Use Case Discovery Guide.
✍️ Zinal Dedhia, Kudrat Wadhwa, Shubhangi Bhatia | ✂️ Rohini Chatterji | 🎧 Joshua Thomas
🤝 Reach 80k+ CXOs? Partner with us.
✉️ Got questions or feedback? Reach out.
💰 Like The Core? Support us.
