IndiGo, one of India's largest airlines, is facing a significant operational crisis, highlighted by the cancellation of over fifty flights in a single day, which is reportedly the highest in the airline's history. The company, which typically operates around 2,032 daily flights, stated that the disruption is due to the combined impact of its new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) policy and technical problems.
The company's on-time performance plummeted to just seven percent on Wednesday, following a 35 percent drop on Tuesday. The airline has cancelled flights across major Indian cities, including: Mumbai (118 flights), Bengaluru (100 flights), Hyderabad (75 flights), Kolkata (35 flights), Chennai (26 flights), and Goa (11 flights), with other airports also reporting cancellations.
IndiGo attributes the crisis primarily to the new FDTL policy (designed to reduce pilot fatigue and strengthen safety), which came into effect on November 1st. The new policy introduces stricter controls over pilots' duty hours, especially during night operations where time slots are limited. The airline admitted that its estimate for the increased demand for pilots and crew under the new policy was incorrect, leading to "conversion complications" and severe scheduling issues. The airline's CEO, Peter Elbers, informed staff that restoring normalcy and punctuality would not be an easy task.
In response to the massive disruption, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) held a meeting with top officials of IndiGo to identify the source of the problem and find a rapid solution. IndiGo has warned that more flights will be cancelled for the next two to three days as part of a plan to normalize its flight schedule.
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