IndiGo crisis: Govt orders high-level inquiry; places DGCA's FDTL orders in abeyance with immediate effect

Amid the slew of IndiGo flight cancellations, the government, on Friday, ordered a high-level probe into the disruption. “The inquiry will examine what went wrong at Indigo, determine accountability wherever required for appropriate actions, and recommend measures to prevent similar disruptions in the future, ensuring that passengers do not face such hardships again”, said Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu in a statement.

Naidu also said that the FDTL orders issued by aviation watchdog DGCA have been temporarily paused with immediate effect to stabilise operations and prioritise relief for affected passengers. He said that airlines have also been directed to provide timely and accurate updates to all passengers and ensure automatic refunds.

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IndiGo cancelled over 400 flights on Friday alone, as per reports – adding to the already growing woes of several stranded passengers.

Four-member team, restoration in 3 days – What the Ministry said?

• DGCA has constituted a four member committee to undertake comprehensive review and assess circumstances that led to "such massive disruptions"
• The aviation watchdog's FDTL rules have been temporarily paused with immediate effect.
• The government also said that flight schedules are expected to stabilise and return to normal by tomorrow, Saturday, 6 December.
• Complete restoration of services likely to be achieved within the next three days.

IndiGo crisis deepens - How did the chaos unfold?

What began as a single day of cancellations and delays – has now spiraled into a four-day saga. Throughout this week, 20-year-old domestic carrier IndiGo has had increasing number of flight cancellations and delays over the network across major airports in India.

With passengers reporting delays from 2 December, disruption in services continued today, on 5 December, with PTI reporting at least 400 flights cancelled across airports in the country.

What has happened so far?

• Amid the slew of cancellations, across Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, other airports – two IndiGo flights bound for Hyderabad also received bomb threats, news wire reports mentioned, citing police officials.
• IndiGo CEO shares update: CEO Pieter Elbers shared that cancellations are expected to be less than 1000 on Saturday — adding that complete restoration of operations is likely to take place within 10 December -15 December.
• Crisis reaches Parliament: On Friday, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari raised the issue of operational disruptions and flight cancellations by IndiGo in the Upper House, attributing them to a "monopoly" in the aviation sector.
• Shares drop: Shares of InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of IndiGo, dropped over 7% in the past four days ever since a crisis engulfed the airline. On Friday, the stock declined 1.22% to settle at ₹5,371.30 apiece. During the day, it had dropped 3.15% to ₹5,266.
• IndiGo issues apology: Earlier in the day, IndiGo also issued an apology – stating that refunds for the cancellations would be processed automatically to the original mode of payment. It also assured full waiver on all cancellations or reshedule requests for travel bookings between 5 December to 15 December