India’s largest airline IndiGo has been slapped with financial penalties totalling Rs 22. 20 crore by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the massive disruption in the carrier’s operations in December that led to over 2,500 flight cancellations and around 1,850 flight delays. The airline has also been ordered to pledge a bank guarantee of Rs 50 crore in favour of the DGCA; it will be released by the regulator in phases after IndiGo implements measures to ensure compliance with DGCA directives and long-term systemic correction.
The DGCA has also issued warnings to some senior management personnel of IndiGo, including CEO Pieter Elbers and COO Isidre Porqueras, for the disruption that was primarily caused by the airline’s inadequate preparedness for the implementation of revised pilot rest and duty duration rules. The DGCA has directed the airline to relieve Jason Herter, senior vice president of IndiGo’s operations control centre (OCC), of current operational responsibilities.
The enforcement actions by the regulator are based on the findings of a four-member DGCA inquiry committee that was tasked with a comprehensive review and assessment of the circumstances that led to the crisis in the first week of December. The panel had submitted its report to the DGCA on December 26, and the findings and recommendations were forwarded to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). The inquiry committee had concluded that the primary causes for the disruption were over-optimisation of operations, inadequate preparedness along with deficiencies in system software support for the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) provisions, and shortcomings in IndiGo’s management structure and operational control.
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu had assured stringent action based on the report against those found responsible for the IndiGo meltdown, saying that government action in this case will “set an example”. “The Committee observed that the airline’s management failed to adequately identify planning deficiencies, maintain sufficient operational buffer, and effectively implement the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) provisions. These lapses resulted in widespread flight delays and large-scale cancellations, causing inconvenience to passengers,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said Saturday.
“The Inquiry further noted an overriding focus on maximising utilisation of crew, aircraft, and network resources, which significantly reduced roster buffer margins. Crew rosters were designed to maximise duty periods, with increased reliance on dead-heading, tail swaps, extended duty patterns, and minimal recovery margins. This approach compromised roster integrity and adversely impacted operational resilience.
The inquiry also included within its purview long term reform measures addressing systemic issues so that such incidents do not occur in the future and passengers are not put to any inconvenience,” it added. The airline’s board said that it, along with the IndiGo management, is “committed to taking full cognizance of the orders and will, in a thoughtful and timely manner, take appropriate measures”.
Given that IndiGo commands a domestic market share of around 65 per cent, the disruption had brought India’s civil aviation operations to their knees. Story continues below this ad “Action against officials of Interglobe Aviation (IndiGo): Caution to the CEO for inadequate overall oversight of flight operations and crisis management, Warning to the Accountable Manager (COO) for failure to assess the impact of Winter Schedule 2025 and the revised FDTL (flight duty time limitation) CAR (civil aviation requirement) leading to widespread disruptions and Warning to the Senior Vice President (OCC) with directions to relieve him of current operational responsibilities and not to assign any accountable position, for failure in systemic planning and timely implementation of revised FDTL provisions,” said MoCA, adding that warnings have also been issued to a few other senior IndiGo officials. As for financial penalties, one-time fines totalling Rs 1.
80 crore—penalty of Rs 30 lakh each on six counts of non-compliance—has been imposed on the airline by the DGCA. Additionally, IndiGo has also been slapped a daily penalty of Rs 30 lakh for 68 days—December 5 to February 10—which comes out to Rs 20. 40 crore.
“The Bank Guarantee–linked reform framework of Rs 50 crore titled the IndiGo Systemic Reform Assurance Scheme (ISRAS) for IndiGo, under which phased release of the Bank Guarantee is strictly tied to DGCA-verified implementation of reforms across four pillars—leadership and governance (Rs 10 crore upon certification within 3 months), manpower planning, rostering and fatigue-risk management (Rs 15 crore linked to initial and sustained compliance over 6 months), digital systems and operational resilience (Rs 15 crore upon acceptance of upgrades and safeguards within 9 months), and board-level oversight with sustained compliance (Rs 10 crore after six months of continued adherence over a 9–15 month period),” the MoCA release said detailing the bank guarantee action against the airline. December 5 was the day when the disruption peaked with over 1,600 of the airline’s 2,300-plus daily flights getting cancelled, and the DGCA allowed IndiGo a temporary exemption till February 10 from a few night duty-related changes in the new FDTL rules for pilots, which helped the airline swiftly stabilise operations over the course of the next few days. On January 9, IndiGo was ordered to curtail its approved domestic flight schedule by 10%.
Story continues below this ad The regulator placed its oversight teams at the airline’s headquarters to monitor network and crew operations as the crisis subsided, and summoned the IndiGo top brass on multiple occasions during and after the crisis. The airline’s CEO and COO were also issued show-cause notices by the regulator in view of the operational meltdown. The DGCA also terminated the services of four flight operations inspectors (FOIs) responsible for oversight on IndiGo and the airline’s preparation for the new FDTL rules.
The new FDTL rules stipulate more rest for pilots and rationalization of their flying duties—particularly late night operations—in a bid to better manage pilot fatigue, which is a key risk to aviation safety. These new norms, which were stipulated in January 2024 were delayed in their implementation, and took effect in two phase—from July 1, 2025 and November 1, 2025—with the second phase rollout hitting IndiGo considerably.
The new norms meant that airlines either had to have more pilots to maintain their schedule, or shrink the schedule in line with the new requirements. IndiGo, however, was caught unprepared.
In review meetings with the DGCA and MoCA, IndiGo had accepted that that the disruptions arose “primarily from misjudgement and planning gaps in implementing” the second phase of new FDTL rules, with the airline saying that the actual crew requirement for the new rules exceeded what it had anticipated, as per the DGCA. “We would like to take this opportunity to inform all of our stakeholders, particularly our valued customers, that the Board and the Management of IndiGo are committed to taking full cognizance of the orders and will, in a thoughtful and timely manner, take appropriate measures.
Additionally, an in-depth review of the robustness and resilience of the internal processes at IndiGo has been underway since the disruption to ensure that the airline emerges stronger out of these events in its otherwise pristine record of 19+ years of operations,” the airline’s board said in a message Saturday after receiving the DGCA orders.