India’s biggest airline IndiGo says operations ‘back to normal’

India’s biggest airline IndiGo said on Tuesday (Dec 9) its operations had stabilised after it cancelled thousands of flights, triggering days of airport chaos – sparked by a since-suspended new pilot rest policy.

“Our on-time performance is... back to normal levels,” an IndiGo statement said, adding the airline was operating more than 1,800 flights on Tuesday, and planned to “fly nearly 1,900 flights” on Wednesday.

But India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), told the airline to cut its planned flights by 5 per cent, as it had “not demonstrated an ability to operate these schedules efficiently.”

Airports across India were thrown into disarray last week, with the private carrier admitting “misjudgement and planning gaps” in adapting to new rules had led to an operational meltdown – even though it had two years to prepare for the switch.

The new rules came into effect last month, with the aim of giving pilots more rest periods to enhance passenger safety.

India’s Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu last week said the flight duty time limitations rules had “been placed in abeyance”.

Naidu told parliament on Tuesday that a “detailed enforcement investigation” into the disruption had begun.

“No airline, however large, will be permitted to cause such hardship to passengers through planning failures, non-compliance or non-adherence to statutory provisions,” Naidu said.

“Safety in civil aviation is completely non-negotiable.”

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The crisis is one of the biggest challenges faced by IndiGo, a no-frills airline which has built its reputation on punctuality.

India is one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets, hitting 500,000 daily flyers last month for the first time. AFP

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