NEW DELHI:
India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has dismissed four flight inspectors who were responsible for monitoring the safety and operational standards of IndiGo.
The action comes amid a deepening crisis at the airline, which has cancelled thousands of flights this month due to poor planning and failure to meet stricter safety norms.
The cancellations have left tens of thousands of passengers stranded across the country. IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers has again been summoned by the DGCA and will appear before the officials again on Friday.
According to sources, the DGCA acted against the inspectors after finding negligence in their inspection and monitoring duties.
The regulator has now deployed two special oversight teams at IndiGo’s Gurugram office to closely track the airline’s operations.
These teams will submit a daily report to the DGCA by 6 p.m. One team is monitoring IndiGo’s fleet strength, pilot availability, crew utilisation hours, training schedules, split-duty patterns, unplanned leave, standby crew, and the number of flights affected due to crew shortage.
It is also reviewing the airline’s average stage length and network to understand the full scale of the operational disruption.
The second team is focusing on the impact of the crisis on passengers. This includes checking the status of refunds from both the airline and travel agents, compensation offered under Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), on-time performance, baggage return, and the overall cancellation status.
IndiGo has been ordered to reduce its operations by 10 per cent to stabilise its schedules and control further disruptions.
The airline usually operates around 2,200 flights per day, which means more than 200 flights will now be cancelled daily.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said passengers had suffered “severe inconvenience” because of IndiGo’s mismanagement of crew rosters, flight timings, and communication.
After a meeting with IndiGo CEO Elbers, the minister said the airline must follow all ministry directives, including fare caps and measures to support affected passengers.
As the DGCA probe continues and IndiGo’s CEO has been summoned for further explanations, the airline has announced compensation for travellers who faced extreme delays between December 3 and 5.
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