Passengers waiting at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, in Hyderabad, amid continued cancellations of IndiGo flights.
| Photo Credit: G. Ramakrishna
The crackdown on IndiGo began on Wednesday (December 10, 2025) as the Aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered nine of its senior officials to be stationed at the airline’s corporate office and conduct an audit of the airline’s fleet, pilot and crew utilisation.
Of these, two officials shall also monitor flight cancellations, delays, refunds, and passenger compensation status.
The order followed a meeting of the Director General at DGCA, Faiz Kidwai with IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Wednesday (December 10). The DGCA also summoned CEO Elbers to appear at its office on Thursday (December 11, 2025) and submit a complete report, along with comprehensive data and updates, relating to the recent operational disruptions.
Mr. Elbers has been asked to appear at the DGCA office at 3 p.m. on Thursday (December 11).
The decision follows a meeting held by the Prime Minister’s Office with dfficials from the DGCA, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to review redressal of passenger complaints related to refunds, missing baggage, and crowd management at airports due to the massive flight disruptions at IndiGo which has seen over 5,000 flights cancelled, impacting over 12.5 lakh passengers.
As per the regulator’s order, the airline has been asked to present information on the flight restoration, recruitment plan of pilots and crew, with updated position of pilot and cabin crew strength, number of flights cancelled and refunds processed, among others.
Following large-scale disruptions to its services, which resulted in thousands of flights being cancelled, delayed or rescheduled, the DGCA appointed a panel to probe the disruptions.
The four-member committee has been mandated to identify the root causes behind the operational breakdown. It comprises Joint D.G. (Director General) Sanjay Brahamane, Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, senior Flight Operations Inspector (FOI) Kapil Manglik, and FOI Lokesh Rampal. The panel will closely examine manpower planning, fluctuating crew rostering systems and the airline’s readiness to implement the latest duty period and rest norms for pilots.
Announced by DGCA chief Faiz Ahmed Kidwai on December 5, the panel will also review IndiGo’s compliance with the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) provisions. This includes assessing gaps admitted by the airline and fixing accountability for planning failures that resulted in widespread disruptions.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published – December 10, 2025 03:24 pm IST
