New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday issued an order establishing a comprehensive review into the widespread operational disruptions that hit IndiGo’s network in late November 2025, following a surge in cancellations that reached nearly 200 flights a day.
The order, dated 5 December 2025, directs the newly formed committee to submit its findings and recommendations within 15 days, enabling the regulator to initiate any necessary enforcement action.
According to the DGCA’s order, IndiGo struggled to transition to the new FDTL norms introduced in phases from July and November 2025. Despite repeated directions and advance instructions issued throughout the year, the airline was unable to accurately forecast crew availability, conduct training on time, or realign its rosters before the new rules took effect.
The regulator noted that during a review meeting, IndiGo itself acknowledged its failure to anticipate the actual crew requirement mandated under the revised norms, resulting in significant planning and assessment gaps that fed directly into the large-scale disruptions. With cancellations peaking at 170–200 flights daily and affecting network integrity as well as passenger convenience, DGCA observed that IndiGo registered the highest number of flight cancellations among all carriers during November.
The order states that the pattern of failures points to deficiencies in IndiGo’s internal oversight, operational preparedness, and compliance planning, thereby necessitating an independent examination.
The committee will examine the underlying causes of the disruptions, the adequacy of manpower and rostering systems, the extent of compliance with revised FDTL provisions, the accountability for planning failures, and the sufficiency of mitigation measures currently being undertaken by the airline, including those linked to the one-time regulatory exemption that remains valid until February 2026. It will also assess whether the airline is taking adequate steps to stabilise and restore normal flight operations.
The committee comprises four senior officials — Joint Director General Sanjay K. Bramhnane, Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, Senior Flight Operations Inspector Capt. Kapil Manglik, and Flight Operations Inspector Capt. Lokesh Rampal — and has been tasked with reviewing the circumstances that led to the disruptions and assessing the airline’s preparedness under the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) framework.
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