India’s aviation ministry on Friday rolled back a new policy of weekly rest for pilots after chaos caused by hundreds of flight cancellations by the country’s biggest airline, IndiGo.
In a bid to improve air travel safety, Indian authorities have introduced new stricter regulations limiting pilot flying times and placing tighter restrictions on their operation of night-time flights.
Airports across India have been in disarray since Monday, with the private carrier blaming the disruption on “unforeseen operational challenges”.
On Thursday, IndiGo admitted to aviation regulators that “misjudgement and planning gaps” in adapting to new rules led to the operational meltdown, even though it had two years to prepare for the switch.
The new rules came into effect last month with the aim of giving pilots more rest periods to enhance passenger safety.
India’s civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the ‘Flight Duty Time Limitations’ rules “have been placed in abeyance with immediate effect”.
“Without compromising on air safety, this decision has been taken solely in the interest of passengers, especially senior citizens, students, patients, and others who rely on timely air travel for essential needs,” Naidu said in a statement.
Naidu said his ministry expected that “flight schedules will begin to stabilise and return to normal by tomorrow”.
IndiGo, which cancelled all domestic flights Friday from New Delhi and Chennai, apologised for “the immense inconvenience and distress” caused to travellers.
In a video statement, the company’s CEO Pieter Elbers said late Friday the relaxation of the rules was “of great help” but there was “still lots of work in progress”.
Friday was the “most severely impacted day” with “well over a thousand” cancellations, Elbers said.
He added that the company expected cancellations to fall below 1,000 on Saturday ahead of a return to normal between December 10 and 15.
IndiGo, which commands 60 per cent of India’s domestic market, operates over 2,000 flights a day.
The carrier admitted it failed to plan properly ahead of a November 1 deadline for the measures’ introduction. And with air travel now approaching its December peak, that has forced widespread flight cancellations this week, which have stranded thousands of travellers.
“These last few days, we have [had] a serious operational crisis,” it said in a statement. “While this will not get resolved overnight, we assure you we will do everything in our capacity to help you in the meantime.”
Following a request by IndiGo, India’s civil aviation authorities granted it a temporary exemption from some of the new rules on Friday to help it deal with the crisis.
IndiGo had earlier flagged that it did not expect to fully restore operations until February 10, though on Friday it said there should be “progressive improvement” from Saturday.
Other major Indian airlines, including Air India and Akasa, have not had to cancel flights due to the new rules.
Hundreds of flights cancelled, passengers vent anger
On Friday, Delhi airport announced all IndiGo departures were cancelled for the day, a number that a source put at 235 flights. Chennai airport also announced all departing IndiGo flights were cancelled.
The airline cancelled 165 flights in Mumbai, 102 in Bengaluru, 92 in Hyderabad, airport sources, who declined to be named, said. Other major metro airports saw IndiGo flights up to 6pm (5:30pm PKT) cancelled on Friday.
At many airports across the country, crowds of stranded passengers voiced their frustrations, aggressively arguing with staff.
Social media platforms and local media were flooded with videos of angry travellers.
“Down with IndiGo! Down with IndiGo!” a group of passengers at Bengaluru airport shouted in protest, a video post on X showed.
Another video showed a father shouting at IndiGo crew members, demanding a sanitary pad for his daughter.
A post on X from earlier Friday morning showed dozens of young children sitting inside a Delhi airport terminal.
“Kids waiting since 4am for their IndiGo (flight) … hungry, tired, sleepy,” read the post’s caption.
IndiGo receives exemptions from new pilot duty rules
Shares of IndiGo dropped nearly 3pc on Friday, taking their weekly slump to 10.3%. India’s main opposition party has demanded a discussion on the issue in parliament.
The new pilot duty rules mandate that pilots can only make two night-time landings per week, down from six previously.
That provision was put on hold for IndiGo until February 10 by India’s civil aviation regulator. The airline was also temporarily exempted from a rule specifying maximum flight duty periods for pilots doing some night flying.
IndiGo said it will offer waivers on all cancellations and booking changes for travel between December 5 and December 15. The airline has also arranged ground transportation and thousands of hotel rooms for stranded customers, it said.
