Strict action will be taken to set an example: Civil Aviation Minister on IndiGo crisis

Union Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu on Monday (December 8, 2025) informed Rajya Sabha that the government has initiated an inquiry into IndiGo’s mass flight cancellations that left several hundred flyers stranded across airports in the country. He said strict action will be taken against the operator to set an example for other airlines.

Blaming the airline for its failure to manage the crew and duty roster through its day-to-day operations, Mr. Naidu said: “We are not taking this situation lightly. We are doing an inquiry. We will take very, very strict action not only for this situation but also as an example.”

Congress MP Pramod Tiwari raised questions on whether the IndiGo crisis was caused by a fault in the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), a technical issue that disrupted flight services in early November. Mr. Naidu said the IndiGo crisis was not related to AMSS but was due to anomalies and mismanagement in the airline’s internal crew roster system.

Elaborating on the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) guideline, which was framed after a High Court order in April this year, the Minister said there were 22 FDTL guidelines, out of which 15 were implemented from July 1, 2025 and the remaining seven from November 1, 2025.

According to Mr. Naidu, multiple stakeholders were consulted including IndiGo regarding the implementation of FDTL, and the government had made it very clear that all airlines will have to follow the rules without any compromise on safety. Since November 1 this year when these rules came into effect, Mr. Naidu said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been in continuous consultation with all airlines, as they have requested certain exemptions due to variations in their operations.

“After thorough consultation and safety risk assessment, necessary variations and exemptions have been given beforehand,” Mr. Naidu said, adding that the crisis took place almost one whole month after the operation of the new FDTL.

‘Nothing was flagged’

Blaming IndiGo entirely for the crisis, Mr. Naidu said that even on December 1 when the Ministry met with IndiGo on FDTL, as it required some clarification, the company did not flag the issue that caused the crisis.

“This is a day-to-day operation — something that IndiGo should have maintained. IndiGo was supposed to manage the crew roster through its day-to-day operations,” Mr. Naidu said.

“If there is any mis-compliance, non-compliance, non-adherence for any single person, entity and organisation, or any operator functioning in this civil aviation, we will take very, very strict action so that we set an example in the industry,” he added.

Mr. Naidu also said that the government wants to have at least five airlines and steps are being taken to encourage competition. “This is the time to start an airline,” he said.

The Minister also informed that a total of 5,86,705 passengers’ tickets were cancelled and refunded between December 1-7, amounting to a total of ₹569.65 crore. From November 21 till December 7, this figure comes down to 9,55,591 passengers whose tickets were cancelled and refunded, amounting to a total of ₹827 crore. Around 4,500 bags were delivered to customers out of the total 9,000 bags with the target to deliver the remaining bags in the next 36 hours, he said.

The Minister informed the House that IndiGo operated 1,802 flights to 137 out of 138 destinations with 500 cancellations.

The Opposition staged a walkout claiming that the Minister failed to answer their questions regarding the issue.