135 departures and 90 arrivals were cancelled in Delhi in a single day, while Bengaluru saw around 50 cancellations and Hyderabad over 90.

DGCA Withdraws New Pilot Rest Rule After IndiGo Flight Cancellation Chaos

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has withdrawn its newly introduced pilot-rest norms. DGCA has taken this step after IndiGo’s four-day operational meltdown, which caused large-scale cancellations across major airports in the country. The regulator rolled back the instruction prohibiting airlines from substituting “leave” for mandatory weekly rest and stated that the decision was being implemented “with immediate effect” due to ongoing disruptions and repeated requests from carriers to ensure continuity of operations.

IndiGo’s crisis caused more than 1,000 cancellations over four days, hitting major airports in Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad particularly. IndiGo cancelled all flights from Delhi until midnight on Friday and from Chennai until 6 PM the same day and left thousands of passengers stranded.

According to IndiGo, the disruptions were caused by “unforeseen operational issues”, including technical issues, winter-schedule adjustments, congestion and adverse weather. However, aviation sources and regulatory officials said that the newly implemented Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules were the major reasons for causing this massive disruption.

The FDTL norms, which were introduced on November 1, mandated stricter weekly rest requirements for pilots and imposed tighter controls on night operations. The sudden breakdown in rosters exposed a lack of preparedness. Indigo admitted that “misjudgment and planning gaps” in the implementation of the norms caused its on-time performance to crash. It was despite nearly two years of lead time.

The consequences were severe. 135 departures and 90 arrivals were cancelled in Delhi in a single day, while Bengaluru saw around 50 cancellations and Hyderabad over 90. With IndiGo operating more than 2,200 flights daily, which is nearly double its closest competitor, even minor planning failures caused a nationwide disruption.

The DGCA has withdrawn the “no-substitution” clause and has effectively paused a major part of its fatigue-mitigation framework to stabilise airline operations. The episode raises significant questions about regulatory readiness, airline planning and the balance between safety and operational continuity.

Source: Hindustan Times