The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Saturday imposed a penalty of Rs 22.2 crore on IndiGo following an investigation into widespread flight disruptions in December, finding that the airline overstretched its flight crew and failed to adequately implement revised pilot duty and rest norms, The Hindu reported.
The aviation regulator said its four-member inquiry committee found that there was “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, which “compromised roster integrity and adversely impacted operational resilience”, the statement added.
The penalty relates to large-scale cancellations and delays between December 3 and 5, when 2,507 flights were cancelled and 1,852 delayed, affecting more than three lakh passengers.
The fine includes Rs 1.8 crore for multiple violations of Civil Aviation Requirements and Rs 20.4 crore as a cumulative penalty of Rs 30 lakh for continued non-compliance with revised Flight Duty Time Limitation norms over 68 days.
The probe also identified deficiencies in software systems, shortcomings in management structure, and weaknesses in operational control, The Hindu reported.
The regulator noted that following the December crisis, IndiGo was found to have 65 fewer captains than required to...
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