India fines IndiGo $2.45 million for mass flight cancellations

• Private carrier admits misjudgment, design flaws.
• The regulator directs IndiGo to provide relief to the senior agencies.
• The operational collapse is linked to the new pilot rest policy.
  

India’s civil aviation regulator on Saturday fined IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, $2.45 million for poor roster planning that led to large-scale flight cancellations in December.

Airports across India fell into disarray late last year, with the private carrier admitting “misjudgment and planning gaps” in adapting to a new pilot rest policy.

More than 4,000 mostly domestic flights were either canceled or delayed for more than a week across the country, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers.

The operational collapse came even as IndiGo had two years to prepare for new rules intended to give pilots more rest periods between flights to improve passenger safety.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it was imposing the penalty for several errors, including “failure to strike (a) balance between commercial imperatives and the ability of crew members to work effectively”.

The regulator has directed IndiGo to relieve its senior vice president of its operations control centre, according to a statement released on Saturday.

It also issued warnings to senior executives at the company, including CEO Pieter Elbers “for insufficient overall oversight of flight operations and crisis management”.

There was no immediate response from IndiGo on the fine.

IndiGo, which has 60% of India’s domestic market, operates more than 2,000 flights a day.

The crisis was one of the biggest challenges faced by the no-nonsense airline that has built its reputation on punctuality.

India is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. In November 2024, IndiGo reached a daily level of 500,000 passengers for the first time.