The Civil Aviation Ministry has summoned IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers to provide a comprehensive report on the flight disruptions, action taken and recruitment plans
The Civil Aviation Ministry has formed an eight-member oversight team to monitor airports across the country after large-scale disruptions by IndiGo left thousands of passengers stranded. The team, drawn entirely from the DGCA’s administration department, will track airline operations and passenger welfare on a daily basis.
The DGCA members on the team include Captain Vikram Sharma, Deputy Chief Flight Operations Inspector; Captain Kapil Mangalik, Senior Flight Operations Inspector (SFOI); Capt V P Singh (SFOI); Apoorva Agarwal (SFOI); Swati Loomba (SFOI); Aman Suhag (SFOI); Nitya Jain (FOI); and Capt N J Singh (FOI).
Two officers will be stationed daily at IndiGo’s corporate office in Gurugram to examine key operational parameters such as fleet strength, crew utilisation, pilots under training, network planning, unplanned leave, the number of affected sectors, and availability of standby crew in both cockpit and cabin.
Another two officers — Aishveer Singh, Deputy Director, and Mani Bhushan, Senior Statistical Officer will also be posted at the Gurugram office to track cancellation data, refund status on airline and OTA platforms, on-time performance, passenger compensation, and baggage return.
“Both the teams will submit a daily report by 6 pm to Joint Director General (Administration) DGCA, Harish Kumar Vashisth and the Joint Director General, Jai Prakash Pandey.”
Meanwhile, the aviation regulator has summoned IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers to appear on Thursday, December 11, with a comprehensive report on the flight disruptions, action taken and recruitment plans. Nearly 250 flights were cancelled on Wednesday, while around 1,900 were operated.
Meanwhile, IndiGo Chairman and Non-Executive Independent Director Vikram Singh Mehta issued a detailed public apology after a week of unprecedented flight disruptions, denying allegations that the airline engineered the crisis to circumvent new pilot rest rules.
In an eight-minute video message, Mehta acknowledged widespread cancellations beginning December 3 and said the airline had “let customers down,” even as he assured that operations are “back to normal, earlier than expected.”
Mehta said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is examining the chain of events that led to thousands of passengers being stranded across the country. He confirmed that IndiGo will appoint external technical experts to work alongside management “to determine the root causes and ensure this level of disruption never occurs again.”
While accepting responsibility, Mehta pushed back strongly against claims that the disruptions were intentional. “There are some allegations that are untrue,” he said. “That IndiGo engineered the crisis. That we tried to influence government rules. That we compromised safety. These claims are incorrect. We operated under the updated pilot fatigue rules throughout July and November and did not attempt to bypass them.”
The chairman described December 3-5 as days when an “unexpected chain of events” overwhelmed the airline’s systems, citing minor technical snags, winter-schedule adjustments, adverse weather, congestion across the aviation network, and the transition to updated crew rostering norms. “This is not an excuse. This is simply the truth,” he said, calling the episode a “blemish on the company’s pristine record.”
Mehta stressed that the board remained fully engaged throughout the crisis and worked closely with CEO Pieter Elbers to stabilise the network. IndiGo has now resumed full operations, flying 1,900 services across 138 destinations with normal punctuality levels, he said. But he cautioned that regaining public confidence will take time, “Our company has erred. It has to win back your trust. It will depend on actions, not words.”
