India’s largest airline IndiGo’s flights operations are expected to be fully compliant with the new pilot rest and duty duration norms from Wednesday, following the expiration of the specific exemptions given to the airline after its operational meltdown early December, according to aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
“IndiGo Airlines has informed DGCA that it shall be fully prepared to comply with the statutory provisions and to implement the approved Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) scheme…upon expiry of the exemptions,” the DGCA said in a statement on Wednesday. The specific exemptions from some FDTL norms granted to IndiGo lapsed on Tuesday (February 10).
“IndiGo Airlines has further stated that all necessary operational, fostering, and monitoring arrangements are being put in place to ensure full compliance with the approved FDTL scheme with effect from 11 February 2026,” the regulator added.
Last month, the carrier had assured the DGCA that it will have sufficient pilot availability to maintain its current level of flight operations—over 2,200 daily flights—beyond February 10. IndiGo had informed the DGCA that it will have 2,400 captains available for its Airbus A320 fleet, against a requirement of 2,280 to maintain stable operations as per its current flight schedule after February 10. As for first officers, the airline had said it will have 2,240 available, against a requirement of 2,050. When the crisis crippled IndiGo’s operations for a few days in December, the airline had informed the DGCA that it was short by 65 captains for its workhorse Airbus A320 fleet to maintain its schedule as per the new FDTL rules, even though it had first officers in sufficient numbers.
The Indian Express had reported earlier in January that the airline expected to maintain its current, slightly curtailed schedule despite its specific exemptions from some night duty-related FDTL rules lapsing on February 10. The new FDTL rules stipulate more rest for pilots and rationalisation of their flying duties—particularly late night operations—in a bid to better manage pilot fatigue, which is a key risk to aviation safety.
These new norms, which were stipulated in January 2024, were delayed in their implementation and took effect in two phase—from July 1, 2025 and November 1, 2025—with the second phase rollout hitting IndiGo considerably. The new norms meant that airlines either had to have more pilots to maintain their schedule, or shrink the schedule in line with the new requirements. IndiGo, however, was caught unprepared.
IndiGo is currently operating over 2,200 flights—around 1,900 domestic and the rest international—following a 10% government-mandated curtailment in its approved domestic schedule till March. Given that IndiGo commanded a domestic market share of around 65%, the disruption had brought India’s civil aviation operations to their knees.
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The large-scale disruption, which erupted on December 3, peaked on December 5 with over 1,600 of the airline’s 2,300-plus daily flights getting cancelled in a single day. But with the DGCA granting specific exemptions, the airline was able to swiftly stabilise operations over the course of the next few days. On January 9, IndiGo was ordered to curtail its approved domestic flight schedule by 10%.
The airline expects to maintain its current schedule for the entire duration of the Winter Schedule, which ends on March 28. According to sources close to IndiGo, pilot hiring and onboarding pipeline at the airline is robust, which they expect will lead to sufficient numbers of pilots. Also, command upgrades—promotions of first officers to captains—in cases where they were already due have been accelerated, which is expected to help the airline increase its pilot buffers, or bench strength to improve its roster resilience.
IndiGo accounts for a lion’s share of domestic flights that land or depart between midnight and 6 am, the new definition of ‘night’ in the revised FDTL rules; the earlier definition was midnight to 5 am. In that one hour –5-6 am—also, IndiGo is the dominant carrier, shows an analysis of the airlines’ schedule. Among other changes, the new rules capped the number of landings for pilots operating flights encroaching upon any part of this six-hour period at two, down from six earlier. This meant that pilots operating any so-called red-eye flight landing or departing in the 12-6 am period could only operate one more flight—before or after the said flight—in their entire duty shift for that day. This hit IndiGo the hardest.
In view of the scale of disruption faced by IndiGo, the DGCA exempted it from the new definition of night as well as the two-landing per crew cap for operations encroaching night till February 10, bringing huge relief, although temporary, to the carrier.
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Last month, the DGCA imposed financial penalties totalling Rs 22.20 crore on the airline for the operational meltdown, apart from issuing warnings to its top management personnel. The fine is the highest-ever regulatory penalty imposed by the DGCA on an airline, and is slightly higher than IndiGo’s average daily net profit for financial year 2024-25.
The enforcement actions by the regulator are based on the findings of a four-member DGCA inquiry committee that was tasked with a comprehensive review and assessment of the circumstances that led to the operational meltdown. The inquiry committee had concluded that the primary causes for the disruption were over-optimisation of operations, inadequate preparedness along with deficiencies in system software support for the revised FDTL provisions, and shortcomings in IndiGo’s management structure and operational control.
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