A four-member committee formed to probe the widespread flight disruptions at IndiGo airline earlier this month has submitted its report to civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), according to a senior official. DGCA Joint Director General Sanjay K. This inquiry committee was formed on December 5 under the chairmanship of Brahmane. Its objective was to conduct a detailed review of the circumstances and reasons due to which a large number of IndiGo flights were disrupted. The official said that the committee submitted its report to DGCA on Friday evening.
No official information has been revealed at present
According to sources, copies of the report have been handed over to Civil Aviation Minister K. Letters have also been sent to the offices of Rammohan Naidu and Civil Aviation Secretary Sameer Kumar Sinha. However, no official information has been revealed at present regarding the recommendations and conclusions of the report. The Brahmane-led committee also included DGCA Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, Senior Flight Operations Inspector Captain Kapil Manglik and Flight Operations Inspector Captain Rampal.
More than 1,600 flights were canceled in a single day
It is noteworthy that earlier this month, Indigo had canceled more than 1,600 flights in a single day. The investigation revealed that inadequate planning in implementing the Revised Pilot Duty and Rest Rules (FDTL) was a major reason for these disruptions. After these incidents, DGCA had directed the country’s largest airline IndiGo to reduce its winter schedule by 10 percent. Additionally, show cause notices were also issued to the airline’s CEO Peter Albers and COO Isidre Porqueras.
Several instructions and advance warnings were issued
The DGCA order issued on December 5 said the situation prima facie points to serious lapses in internal monitoring, operational preparedness and compliance planning, necessitating an independent investigation. According to the order, DGCA had already issued several instructions and advance warnings from time to time to the airlines regarding implementation of Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms. Despite this, the regulator found that IndiGo failed to properly assess crew availability, provide timely training and make necessary changes to the roster.
Regulatory instructions could not be followed
This resulted in frequent delays and flight cancellations on IndiGo’s network from the end of November 2025 onwards and regulatory directives could not be followed. The DGCA then held a review meeting with IndiGo, in which the airline admitted that it had failed to correctly estimate the actual crew requirement under the revised rules. Also, adequate planning and assessment was not done to implement phase-two of the FDTL Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) 2024. The FDTL rules were implemented in two phases – the first phase came into effect from July 1 and the second phase from November 1.
It was said in the DGCA order
These deficiencies resulted in massive flight disruptions. 170 to 200 flights had to be canceled daily, seriously impacting network stability and passenger convenience. IndiGo’s flight cancellations in November were the highest compared to other airlines. This case once again highlights the importance of operational planning, crew management and regulatory compliance in the aviation sector.
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