New Delhi: The Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday imposed a hefty fine of Rs 22.20 crore on IndiGo for the unprecedented and large-scale flight disruptions in December.
The airline’s services went for a toss over several days, with numerous flights cancelled or diverted, leaving thousands of passengers stranded across the country.
As part of punitive action, the country’s aviation regulator also asked the airline to pledge a bank guarantee of Rs 50 crore in favour of the DGCA to ensure compliance with the directives and long-term systemic correction.
The DGCA noted that at least 2,507 IndiGo flights were cancelled and 1,852 flights delayed between December 3 and 5, affecting 3 lakh passengers.
IndiGo’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pieter Elbers was issued a caution, while the Accountable Manager and Chief Operating Officer (COO) were warned.
The Senior Vice President overseeing the Operations Control Centre was also warned and directed to be relieved of his current operational responsibilities, with instructions that he should not be assigned any accountable position.
A detailed DGCA inquiry found that over-optimised crew rosters, inadequate planning and weak crisis management led to the acute December crisis.
In its order, DGCA said the disruptions were driven by an overriding focus on maximising utilisation of crew, aircraft and network resources, which greatly reduced operational buffer margins.
The probe committee found that crew rosters were designed to stretch duty periods, with increased reliance on dead-heading, tail swaps, extended duty patterns and minimal recovery margins, compromising roster integrity and operational resilience, reported India Today.
