India’s largest airline IndiGo has been forced to delay and cancel hundreds of flights as it struggles to cope with new pilot rest and duty-hour norms, even a month after their implementation. On Tuesday, barely three out of ten flights of the carrier, where punctuality is central to its branding, departed on time, upsetting passengers and exposing the airline’s unpreparedness to deal with the new rules during peak travel season. The airline cancelled around 130 flights on Tuesday and is likely to cancel more than 150 flights today.
The norms, implemented by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from 1 November following a Delhi High Court mandate, cap the number of landings a pilot can perform between 12 am and 6 am while increasing weekly rest requirements. Though IndiGo and other airlines lobbied intensely to postpone the rules, the regulator enforced them with only limited relaxations.
An IndiGo spokesperson cited technology glitches, adverse weather, airport congestion and the new rules as reasons for the disruption. “To contain the disruption and restore stability, we have initiated calibrated adjustments to our schedules. These measures will remain in place for hours and will allow us to normalize our operations,” she said.
However, people involved in the airline’s operations blamed poor planning as the reason. The airline, they said, assumed DGCA would grant more time to implement the rules, and hence neither hired adequately nor accelerated training, leaving pilots stretched thin through frequent reassignments, longer workdays and extended deadheading where they travel as passengers to operate flights at another location. An Air India spokesperson said that the airline has enough pilots to meet the increased requirements.
“IndiGo has always maintained around four percent crew as a buffer for extraordinary situations. With increased crew requirement due to the new rules, now it is zero. That the rules would take effect from November was known to all. Not planning accordingly was a strategic mistake,” an official involved in crew planning said.
Over the last year, IndiGo’s owned fleet expanded by only 24 aircraft because of sluggish Airbus deliveries and grounding of over 40 planes due to Pratt & Whitney engine issues. While it added more than 20 damp-lease aircraft, those are flown by the lessor airline’s pilots. Sources said the company, with its obsessive focus on cost control, stopped hiring new pilots and slowed the upgrade of first officers to captains.
Management’s reluctance to hire stemmed from an internal study showing utilisation remained low at 57 hours per month, even though pilots are paid for a fixed 70 hours. Multiple officials, however, disagreed with this conclusion. “The average looked low because pilots in smaller bases like Lucknow and Jaipur flew less, but those in metros were fully utilised,” one said.
Early November brought the first clear warning when IndiGo put out an internal call offering pilots extra pay to work additional days, according to a communication reviewed by ET. But the offer received a lukewarm response. Several pilots said constant rerouting and uncertainty about their schedules made them unwilling to take extra flights.
“Yesterday my flight was on ground for two hours after I reached the airport. This has been the case with all my flights last week. Everyone looks exhausted. I think the top guys have no clue what it is like on ground. There is frustration at every corner,” an IndiGo pilot wrote in an internal group.
The network meltdown is also the first major challenge for Chief Operating Officer Isidro Porqueras, who joined last year. Indian airlines, meanwhile, are expected to see high pilot attrition as Gulf carriers such as Emirates, Etihad and Riyadh Air ramp up hiring. IndiGo is simultaneously preparing to expand services to Europe and Australia.
“The airline should be better prepared for such disruptions. The compensation for passengers is very high in Europe,” an analyst tracking the company said.
The norms, implemented by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from 1 November following a Delhi High Court mandate, cap the number of landings a pilot can perform between 12 am and 6 am while increasing weekly rest requirements. Though IndiGo and other airlines lobbied intensely to postpone the rules, the regulator enforced them with only limited relaxations.
An IndiGo spokesperson cited technology glitches, adverse weather, airport congestion and the new rules as reasons for the disruption. “To contain the disruption and restore stability, we have initiated calibrated adjustments to our schedules. These measures will remain in place for hours and will allow us to normalize our operations,” she said.
However, people involved in the airline’s operations blamed poor planning as the reason. The airline, they said, assumed DGCA would grant more time to implement the rules, and hence neither hired adequately nor accelerated training, leaving pilots stretched thin through frequent reassignments, longer workdays and extended deadheading where they travel as passengers to operate flights at another location. An Air India spokesperson said that the airline has enough pilots to meet the increased requirements.
“IndiGo has always maintained around four percent crew as a buffer for extraordinary situations. With increased crew requirement due to the new rules, now it is zero. That the rules would take effect from November was known to all. Not planning accordingly was a strategic mistake,” an official involved in crew planning said.
Over the last year, IndiGo’s owned fleet expanded by only 24 aircraft because of sluggish Airbus deliveries and grounding of over 40 planes due to Pratt & Whitney engine issues. While it added more than 20 damp-lease aircraft, those are flown by the lessor airline’s pilots. Sources said the company, with its obsessive focus on cost control, stopped hiring new pilots and slowed the upgrade of first officers to captains.
Management’s reluctance to hire stemmed from an internal study showing utilisation remained low at 57 hours per month, even though pilots are paid for a fixed 70 hours. Multiple officials, however, disagreed with this conclusion. “The average looked low because pilots in smaller bases like Lucknow and Jaipur flew less, but those in metros were fully utilised,” one said.
Early November brought the first clear warning when IndiGo put out an internal call offering pilots extra pay to work additional days, according to a communication reviewed by ET. But the offer received a lukewarm response. Several pilots said constant rerouting and uncertainty about their schedules made them unwilling to take extra flights.
“Yesterday my flight was on ground for two hours after I reached the airport. This has been the case with all my flights last week. Everyone looks exhausted. I think the top guys have no clue what it is like on ground. There is frustration at every corner,” an IndiGo pilot wrote in an internal group.
The network meltdown is also the first major challenge for Chief Operating Officer Isidro Porqueras, who joined last year. Indian airlines, meanwhile, are expected to see high pilot attrition as Gulf carriers such as Emirates, Etihad and Riyadh Air ramp up hiring. IndiGo is simultaneously preparing to expand services to Europe and Australia.
“The airline should be better prepared for such disruptions. The compensation for passengers is very high in Europe,” an analyst tracking the company said.
