Overview
- IndiGo must update the regulator this week on its ability to sustain more than 2,000 daily flights once its temporary FDTL exemption ends on February 10, with authorities prepared to order schedule cuts if needed.
- The DGCA levied a record Rs 22.2 crore fine, issued warnings to senior executives, ordered the removal of the operations control head from duties, and required a US$5.51 million bank guarantee.
- The civil aviation ministry has mandated weekly compliance reports as the DGCA conducts daily scrutiny and keeps inspectors stationed at IndiGo’s Gurugram office through February 10.
- IndiGo has reduced flights through the winter schedule, run scheduling dry runs, outlined pilot hiring plans, and says crew rosters will be planned under the new FDTL rules from February 1.
- The December meltdown saw more than 5,000 cancellations in the first week and an estimated 300,000 passengers affected, while the pilots’ federation criticized the penalty as inadequate and the probe’s scope as too narrow.