Air turbulence: IndiGo cancels 300 flights in 2 days as new FDTL rules bite

Airline's on-time performance drops to 35%; DGCA's stricter rest norms disrupt operations nationwide

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India’s largest airline IndiGo has cancelled over 300 flights over the past two days and delayed hundreds more as a mounting pilot shortage disrupted operations following enforcement of the new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) rules, said aviation industry sources on Wednesday. 

The carrier operates over 2,300 flights a day, meaning nearly 7 per cent of services have been scrapped over the past 48 hours. 

IndiGo’s on-time performance slumped to 35 per cent on Tuesday, Ministry of Civil Aviation data showed. In a statement on Wednesday evening, the airline said it had initiated “calibrated adjustments” to its schedules, effectively cancelling a portion of flights, over the next two days to normalise operations. 

The spokesperson attribu-ted the cancellations and delays to minor glitches, adverse weather, airport congestion and the implementation of FDTL rules.

 

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday evening said that IndiGo cancelled 1,232 flights last month, with 61 per cent of them attributed to flight duty time limitation (FDTL) issues. "IndiGo has been asked to report to the DGCA headquarters to present the facts leading to the current situation along with plans to mitigate the ongoing delays and cancellations," the regulator mentioned.

 

The regulator also said it is currently investigating the situation and is evaluating measures along with the airline to mitigate the situation.

 

Industry sources said that at Delhi airport alone, at least 38 IndiGo flights, both domestic and international, were cancelled between midnight and 5 pm on Wednesday. At Mumbai airport, at least 33 flights were dropped in the same period.

 

Overall, more than 300 flights have been cancelled nationwide over Tuesday and Wednesday, they said.

 

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA’s) revised FDTL rules entered their second and final phase on 1 November, bringing into effect the last set of seven clauses deferred during the July rollout. Phase two introduced tighter caps on cumulative flying hours, stricter limits on duty periods during early-morning “window of circadian low” operations, and a hard ceiling on the number of consecutive night duties permitted. 

Industry sources said the airline has struggled to manage pilot duty rosters since phase two took effect.

 

The regulator had informed the Delhi High Court in February this year that the phase 1 (comprising 15 clauses) would be implemented from July 1 and the phase 2 (comprising seven clauses) would be implemented from November 1. This means that IndiGo had more than nine months to prepare for this situation, a government official said on Wednesday.

 

Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa Air are facing far less disruption from the new FDTL norms. SpiceJet’s active fleet has shrunk to barely a couple of dozen aircraft because many jets remain grounded amid financial constraints, which eases pressure on its duty roster. Akasa Air has a sizable pool of pilots, and Boeing’s aircraft deliveries to the airline have been slower than usual over the past couple of years due to supply-chain and regulatory issues.

 

Air India, meanwhile, is operating below potential capacity as many older aircraft are regularly pulled out of service for cabin upgrades, while deliveries of new planes from both Boeing and Airbus have been delayed due to supply-chain challenges.

With these carriers collectively operating fewer aircraft and simpler schedules, the tighter FDTL limits are constraining them far less than IndiGo, whose large and high-frequency network relies heavily on maximum crew availability.

IndiGo issued two statements on Wednesday. 

In a statement at around 1 pm, the spokesperson said the carrier had experienced several “unavoidable flight delays and some cancellations” in the past few days due to a range of issues, including technology problems, airport congestion and operational requirements. “Our teams are working diligently to ensure that operations normalise as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said.

A second statement, released around 6 pm, “acknowledged” that operations had been “significantly disrupted” across the network for the “past two days”. 

“A multitude of unforeseen operational challenges including minor technology glitches, schedule changes linked to the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system and the implementation of updated crew rostering rules (FDTL) had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated,” the spokesperson said. 

“To contain the disruption and restore stability, we have initiated calibrated adjustments to our schedules. These measures will remain in place for the next 48 hours and will allow us to normalise our operations and progressively recover our punctuality across the network,” the spokesperson added. 

Air turbulence

• 7% of IndiGo’s flights scrapped over the past 48 hours
• 38 IndiGo flights cancelled in Delhi; 33 in Mumbai
• 61% of the 1,232 flight  cancellations by the airline last month were due to FDTL issues