IndiGo Crisis: DGCA's big CRACKDOWN after flight cancellations, 4 suspended, airline CEO asked to...

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has terminated the employment of four Flight Operations Inspectors, in response to the ongoing disruptions caused by IndiGo. These inspectors were directly responsible for supervising IndiGo's operations. This decision was made on Friday, December 12, as thousands of passengers continue to experience the impact of extensive flight cancellations.

In addition to the dismissals, the Civil Aviation Ministry has established an eight-member oversight team. This team will monitor the operations of airports and airlines nationwide. Composed entirely of members from the DGCA's administrative division, the team will closely observe daily operational performance and passenger welfare.

Earlier, DGCA issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers after widespread cancellations. The airline, responding to the Show Cause notice, requested additional time to respond, stating that it is "realistically not possible to pinpoint the exact cause(s)" at this time, given the "complexity and vast scale of operations."

IndiGo identified some preliminary contributing factors to this fiasco, including the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) order.

IndiGo states it is "realistically not possible to pinpoint the exact cause(s)" at this time due to the complexity and vast scale of operations. They note that the DGCA's manual allows a fifteen-day response timeline for SCNs, suggesting more time is needed to conduct a comprehensive 'Root Cause Analysis' (RCA). The complete RCA will be shared once finished," DGCA quoted the IndiGo reply to the show cause notice.

Meanwhile, IndiGo has offered travel vouchers worth Rs 10,000 to severely impacted customers over the past few days, which can be used for any future IndiGo journey within the next 12 months.