IndiGo Flight Cancellations Continue For Seventh Day; DGCA Extends Deadline

IndiGo’s flight disruptions stretched into a seventh day on Monday, with the airline cancelling 127 services at Bengaluru Airport, even as the aviation regulator pressed top management for explanations over the continuing breakdown in operations.

According to PTI, a source at Bengaluru Airport said the cancellations included 65 arrivals and 62 departures. The scale of disruption has triggered mounting criticism from passengers and the government, with the Gurugram-based carrier, partly owned by Rahul Bhatia, struggling to stabilise schedules since 2 December.

PTI reported that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has extended the deadline for IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Chief Operating Officer and Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras to respond to its show-cause notices. The two executives were initially asked to reply within 24 hours after the regulator, in notices issued on Saturday, said the widespread operational failures indicated “significant lapses in planning, oversight and resource management”. The regulator has now given them time until 6 pm on Monday.

The airline has attributed the mass cancellations to adjustments required under the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms, introduced nationwide in two stages on 1 July and 1 November. The updated rules mandate 48 hours of weekly rest, extend overnight duty periods, and cap night landings at two instead of six. Domestic carriers, including IndiGo and Air India, had earlier opposed parts of the framework, but the DGCA rolled them out on the direction of the Delhi High Court, albeit a year later than planned and with some variations for IndiGo and Air India.

PTI reported that the norms were originally meant to take effect from March 2024, but carriers sought phased implementation, arguing that they required additional crew strength. IndiGo has already secured temporary relaxations in the second-phase norms till 10 February.

For the first three days of the crisis, the airline did not fully acknowledge the extent of disruption. It was only on Friday, when IndiGo cancelled 1,600 flights, the highest single-day figure in Indian aviation history, that Elbers issued a video message apologising to passengers for the severe inconvenience. In his statement, he admitted that a large number of flights were being cancelled, though he did not specify that 1,600 services would be pulled on that day.

With 127 more cancellations at Bengaluru and thousands of passengers still dealing with delays and last-minute changes, the airline’s operations remain strained as the regulator awaits IndiGo’s formal explanation.

(With inputs from PTI)