Over a month after facing massive disruptions in its flight operations, IndiGo said on Tuesday, February 10, it maintains an optimal staffing level to ensure smooth and stable operations. The statement comes as regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) temporary pilot duty norm relaxations for the country’s largest airline come to an end.
Multiple reasons including inadequate regulatory preparedness, deficiencies in system software support and shortcomings in management structure and operational control at IndiGo had led to the December disruptions. The watchdog had also curtailed the carrier’s winter schedule flights by 10 per cent.
Certain relaxations in implementing FDTL norms were approved until February 10 as the airline saw 2,507 flights cancellations between December 3 and 5. IndiGo, which saw its domestic market share slump to 59.6 per cent in December from 63.6 per cent in November, operates around 2,200 flights daily.
On January 20, the DGCA said sustained regulatory oversight as well as corrective measures have helped stabilize operations at IndiGo, and the airline now has an adequate number of pilots to ensure compliance with the new flight duty norms without disruptions.
The watchdog had then said that there were 2,400 pilots in Command (PICs) as against the requirement for 2,280, and the number of First Officers was 2,240 compared to the requirement for 2,050.
An airline spokesperson said, “As assured to the regulatory authorities earlier, we are maintaining an optimum pool of employees, including pilots, to ensure stable operations across our network.” Also Read | IndiGo didn’t raise red flags before cancellations, govt tells Parliament — ‘Will set an example’
The airline was also given temporary exemption, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol told the Rajya Sabha.
He said that the temporary exemption was given from the “provisions of Clauses 3.11 and 6.1.4 of FDTL CAR 7/J/III …up to 10.02.2026 solely to support operational stabilization in view of public interest”.
These clauses relate to night duty time for pilots and flight landings in night time.
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 over emphasized and all regulatory bodies strictly follow these rules in the interest of pax safety. The growing aviation sector in the country must ensure safety through total implementation of rules and increased oversight of the air operators. Air safety should always be non-negotiable,” FIP President CS Randhawa said in a letter to Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha on Sunday.
