• Source:JND
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IndiGo Cancellations: The Government of India has decided to launch a high-level inquiry into the ongoing disruptions at IndiGo Airlines. This inquiry will investigate the causes of the operational failures, identify accountability where necessary, and recommend measures to prevent such incidents in the future. The aim is to ensure that passengers do not face similar hardships again.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has implemented urgent and proactive measures to address the flight schedule disruptions, particularly those affecting IndiGo Airlines. With immediate effect, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has placed the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) orders in abeyance. This decision has been taken in the interest of passengers, particularly senior citizens, students, patients, and others who rely on timely air travel for essential purposes, without compromising on air safety.

The panel members are Joint Director General Sanjay K Bramhane, Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, Senior Flight Operations Inspector Captain Kapil Manglik and Flight Operations Inspector Captain Rampal, as per an order on Friday.

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In addition to this, several operational directives have been issued to restore normal airline services as swiftly as possible and to minimise the inconvenience caused to passengers. We expect flight schedules to begin stabilising and returning to normal by tomorrow, with a full restoration of services anticipated within the next three days.

In response to the ongoing disruption of IndiGo flights, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has set up a 24×7 Control Room (contact numbers: 011-24610843, 011-24693963, 096503-91859). This Control Room is monitoring the situation in real-time, ensuring swift corrective action, effective coordination, and immediate resolution of any issues that arise.

The disruptions, which have already resulted in over 400 flight cancellations on Friday, have left passengers stranded at major airports across India. Friday marked the fourth consecutive day of severe flight cancellations, causing considerable distress for travellers who were left stuck at terminals without clear information. IndiGo has issued a public apology, attributing the disruption to operational difficulties, and has committed to rebooting its systems in an effort to resolve the crisis by the weekend.

The committee will submit its findings and recommendations to the DGCA within 15 days to enable necessary regulatory enforcement action and ensure institutional strengthening, the order said. According to the order, prima facie, the situation indicates deficiencies in internal oversight, operational preparedness, and compliance planning, "warranting an independent examination".

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Subsequently, the watchdog held a review meeting with IndiGo wherein the airline acknowledged that it has failed to anticipate the actual crew requirement under the revised norms and that significant planning and assessment gaps existed in implementing Phase-II of FDTL CAR 2024, as per the order.

The Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) pertaining to FDTL was implemented in two phases, the first phase came into force from July 1 and the second from November 1.

"This shortfall directly contributed to large-scale disruptions, with cancellations reaching 170-200 flights daily, severely affecting network integrity and passenger convenience. Where it was noticed in the month of November the flight cancellations of IndiGo were maximum vis-a-vis other airlines," the order said.

( With PTI Inputs )


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