Context:

• The government’s response to IndiGo’s flight cancellations has raised serious aviation safety concerns.
• After Indigo’s large-scale disruptions, the Civil Aviation Minister announced that DGCA’s new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules were being put under abeyance, prioritising operational stability and passenger relief.
• Earlier, the DGCA had appealed to pilots and associations to cooperate and subtly signalled a dilution of FDTL norms—despite these rules being mandated under a High Court order to address crew fatigue.
• Critics argue that these actions undermine flight safety, suggesting that India has compromised regulatory integrity to accommodate IndiGo’s commercial interests.
• This article highlights how India’s aviation safety framework has come under severe strain following IndiGo’s mass flight cancellations, exposing long-standing regulatory weaknesses, chronic understaffing, dilution of safety norms.

A Pattern of Diluting Safety Measures

• The DGCA had introduced a strong Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) in 2007 to address crew fatigue and ensure adequate rest.
• However, airline owners objected, and the Civil Aviation Ministry ordered the DGCA to keep the CAR in abeyance. In May 2008, the DGCA formally suspended the regulation.
• This set a long-standing pattern: commercial interests consistently outweighing crew fatigue and aviation safety.
• Judicial Intervention and Reversal
  • Pilot unions challenged the 2008 order in the Bombay High Court.
  • The Court initially granted interim relief and criticised the Ministry and DGCA for:
    • Endangering pilot and passenger safety
    • Arbitrarily increasing pilot duty hours
    • Prioritising airline profits over safety
  • The Court said airlines should reduce flights if pilot shortages existed.
  • Yet, in a surprising turn, the same High Court later reversed its stance and upheld the Ministry’s decision.

IndiGo and DGCA Ignored a Long-Known Deadline

• The new FDTL rules were known more than a year in advance, with a clear implementation date of November 1, 2025.
• Despite this, both IndiGo and the DGCA failed to prepare, resulting in nationwide chaos and thousands of stranded passengers.
• Refunds may be issued, but passengers’ losses from hotels, transport, and missed commitments remain uncompensated.

Underlying Structural Problem: Chronic Understaffing

• The root of the crisis links back to DGCA’s own requirement (CAR Series C, Part II, Section 3) issued in April 2022, which mandates:
  • At least three sets of crew per aircraft
  • All crew holding valid DGCA licences and endorsements
• The regulation exists on paper, but enforcement has been lax.
• Airlines—including IndiGo—operate with lean staffing models, making them vulnerable to even small regulatory changes and exposing deeper systemic weaknesses.
  • Even under the older and already inadequate FDTL rules, airlines were required to maintain at least six pilot sets per domestic aircraft and twelve for long-haul widebody aircraft.
  • However, airlines — particularly IndiGo — appear to have understaffed intentionally, exploiting gaps in the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR).

ICAO’s Long-Standing Warning on India’s Aviation Oversight

• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) warned in 2006 that India needed an independent aviation authority, not one controlled by the government.
• Eighteen years later, the prediction appears validated: DGCA’s oversight has weakened, and airlines operate with the confidence that violations will be overlooked.

December 2025: A Clear Example of Collapsed Oversight

• Recently, in December 2025, two contradictory actions exposed the regulatory breakdown:
  • DGCA appealed to pilots to cooperate with the existing FDTL rules (mandated by the High Court).
  • Hours later, the Ministry suspended those very rules, enabling IndiGo to continue operating without meeting safety-critical crew requirements.
• This amounted to government-sanctioned dilution of safety norms, unprecedented even in developing aviation systems.
• IndiGo has failed to comply with earlier CAR requirements for more than a year, yet the Ministry’s latest order gives the airline until February 10, 2026 to fall in line.
• Given past behaviour, it is unrealistic to expect compliance within two months.
• Further extensions are likely, compromising passenger safety and perpetuating a system where airlines face no meaningful accountability.

Aviation Safety Still Ignored Despite Past Crashes

• India has witnessed three major aviation disasters since 2010 — in Mangaluru, Kozhikode, and Ahmedabad — yet meaningful lessons have not been learned.
• The Air India AI 171 crash report remains inexplicably delayed by the Ministry.
• Even as IndiGo assures that operations will stabilise in 10–15 days, safety has sunk to its lowest point, with flying in India reduced to being “on a wing and a prayer.”
• Despite constant official claims that “safety is paramount,” the decisions taken on December 5, 2025, particularly the dilution of FDTL rules, demonstrate that aviation safety in India remains more myth than reality.