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Union Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Monday, December 8, said that the central government is taking the Indigo flight disruption crisis very seriously, and that an inquiry is being conducted on the matter. His remarks came after a week since hundreds of Indigo Airlines flights have gotten cancelled in a massive disruption of flight travel leaving thousands of passengers stranded across airports in India.

On Monday, the Rahul Bhatia-controlled domestic carrier IndiGo on Monday cancelled 562 flights from six metro airports, with 150 cancellations originating from Bengaluru airport alone, reported PTI. A disruption caused by regulatory changes has affected lakhs of passengers. Since last week however its on-time performance improved to 79.9 per cent until a day earlier however.

“And let me tell me tell you, we are not taking this easily. We are doing an inquiry and we will take very strict action. We will set an example for all the airlines. Indigo was supposed to manage the crew, was supposed to manage the roster through its day to day operations. From the ministry, we have made it clear for the airlines that they have to follow the rules,” stated the Union Aviation Minister.

He added that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation was in continuous consultation with airlines to implement the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms before the current crisis with Indigo.

India’s FDTL rules, updated by the DGCA in January 2024, include mandates for longer rest and stricter caps on night operations to reduce pilot fatigue. The new rules increase weekly pilot rest to 48 hours from 36 hours and reduce night operations by redefining “night” as 12 midnight to 6 a.m. The DGC also has cut permissible night landings from six to two, with more limits on consecutive night duties.

THe Union Aviation minister informed that the DGC has been implementing these new rules since a month before the Indigo fiasco began a week ago. “Some airlines are operating heavily in the north east. They all have come with different variations. DGCA has sat with all airlines… Wherever there was no compromise on the safety after thorough consultation, after thorough safety risk assessment, necessary variations, necessary exemptions were given,” he stated.

Ram Mohan Naidu also informed that the new FDTL rules were in place since December 3 and that there were one full month of operations under it. “Even though we are saying because of FDTL this has arised, Indigo was supposed to manage the crew, and roster through its day to day operations. One full month we observed and we had a meeting with Indigo on FDTL itself. We gave clarifications,” he informed.