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After mass cancellations of IndiGo flights across key Indian cities, including Mumbai and Bengaluru, a top pilot union president on Thursday, December 4, described the Indigo-led aviation crisis as "artificial in nature".

This comes after India's largest commercial airline operator cancelled around 150 flights on Wednesday, December 3, and over 180 cancellations recorded on Thursday, December 4.

Speaking to Republic Media Network, President of Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA), Sam Thomas said, “We believe this crisis is artificial in nature and it's going on not now, but it's gone out of control now. This is among some of the tactics that airlines use when there is something that is not going their way. So, they create an artificial crisis and put pressure on the regulator and the ministry to roll back whatever they don't like." 

Meanwhile, the Gurgaon-based commercial airline is transferring the buck to the new Flight-Duty Time Limitations (FTDL), rather than claiming complete responsibility for the anger, panic, and chaos that it has caused among IndiGo flight passengers across India. 

Sharing his view on the same, Sam Thomas said, “Airlines were given two years to comply. So, to suddenly wake up to this is bordering criminality."

Initially, the airlines had felt it was premature to implement it, and the DGCA complied, offering a year-long extension. After this, the airlines requested a phased implementation with the first phase enforced in July and the second phase in November, according to the ALPA president.

Further, voicing his concerns over the IndiGo-led aviation chaos, the pilot union president said, “You've increased your schedules without planning, and you assumed that you'll be able to circumvent the law.”

Recently, the Civil Aviation Minister, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, had said that India has adequate pilots, so the possibility of an overnight crisis of shortage of pilots should not be there, Thomas claimed. 

Notably, it's being alleged that IndiGo's flight cancellation is a move to make the centre rollback on the Flight-Duty Time Limitations (FTDL).