‘Failed To Flag Crew Shortfall Under New Rules’
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has removed from their positions four flight operations inspectors (FOIs) who were the principal operations inspectors (POI) for oversight on IndiGo.Designated specifically for an airline, these FOIs (senior pilots) are supposed to keep a close watch on the airline’s requirements and also see if they have the required resources in terms of crew for their operations. Airline pilots go as FOIs to the short-staffed DGCA for some years. In this case, the four have been sent back to their airline before their term got over.In IndiGo’s case, officials said, despite new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) or crew rostering rules scheduled to come into effect from July 1, 2025, and then Nov 1, which would have increased pilot requirement, the airline did not hire for the same. The FOIs failed to flag the issue, they said.This led to a shortage, with IndiGo unable to operate as per new FDTL, which was then put on hold for Airbus A320 aircraft till Feb 10, 2026, to avoid the sort of mass cancellations seen earlier this month.”IndiGo was in discussion with DGCA on the new FDTL and was aware of the increased pilot requirement. Yet they did not hire pilots,” said an official in the know.Even after the fiasco, IndiGo maintains there is no pilot shortage. DGCA has directed the airline to step up its pilot hiring. Meanwhile, IndiGo’s operations are nearly back to normal, with over 2,050 flights Friday across 138 destinations.Management faced growing rift with IndiGo pilots: OfficialThere is a complete disconnect and mistrust between the pilots and the management. The operations control centre (OCC) of the airline is severely disliked by IndiGo pilots. An extra payment was made for night landings which was stopped for a while and so pilots started refusing night flights. New contract had capped flying. A number of things happened that only widened the gulf between pilots and management,” an official said.The discontent in IndiGo pilots has arisen not merely for deferring FDTL implementation, but also on other fronts like tweaking salary components, medically unfit and sick report policy. Things got worse recently when some Indian carriers wanted restriction on their pilots going abroad to work for foreign airlines, mainly in the Gulf. “It is okay for Indian carriers to hire expat top management people like CEOs and COOs but they have a problem with us going abroad to work. If you want to retain us, then have better relations with employees, better work environment and pay package. Instead, airlines only want to arm-twist us. Maybe things will change now after the IndiGo fiasco,” added a pilot.
