Govt orders probe into IndiGo chaos, DGCA withdraws FDTL norm

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Friday said various operational measures, including keeping new flight duty norms in abeyance, will help address the IndiGo flight disruptions, and complete restoration of services is expected in next three days. The government has also decided to institute a high-level inquiry to determine the reasons and accountability for the IndiGo disruptions that has resulted in hundreds of flight cancellations and delays in the past four days. The civil aviation ministry has taken urgent and proactive measures to address the ongoing disruption in flight schedules, particularly those of Indigo airlines, Naidu said in a statement.Two orders have been issued to mitigate the problems faced by the public and restore stability of services especially by Indigo, it said.

The IndiGo airline chaos entered the fourth day on Friday, with over 500 cancellations in a single day and the overall number crossing the 1,100-mark. The worst-hit was the Delhi airport, where all IndiGo flights for Friday stand cancelled, followed by Chennai, where all flights till 6 pm are cancelled. Overall, nearly 1,300 flights have been cancelled so far, and there is no sign things will improve in the shortDomestic IndiGo flights from Chennai to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Hyderabad have also been cancelled - till 6 pm - due to "operational reasons", the airport said.

On Friday evening the airline apologised, again, to its customers. In a post on X, IndiGo said, "We do deeply apologise and understand how difficult the past few days have been for many of you. While this will not get resolved overnight, we assure you that we will do everything in our capacity to help you..." term. Amid the ongoing cancellations, air fares of airlines apart from IndiGo have exponentially gone up. According prices available on SkyScanner, a Delhi-Bengaluru Akasa Air flight for Saturday costs Rs40,000 and a Delhi-Mumbai SpiceJet flight for the same day costs Rs25,000.

Aviation regulator DGCA on Friday withdrew, with immediate effect, one part of the Flight Duty Time Limitations rules, the first phase of which kicked in July 1 - which said 'no leave shall be substituted for weekly rest' - to resolve the operational crisis that has affected IndiGo, the country's largest airline. This is the second and third adjustment the DGCA has made to its FDTL norms in less than 24 hours; last night the cap on the number of consecutive hours a pilot can fly was extended from 12 to 14.