IndiGo's flight chaos: Why the airline was hit hardest

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IndiGo cancelled an estimated 500 flights on Tuesday and Wednesday (December 2 and 3) as the airline, which flies three out of five Indians, struggled to maintain its flying schedule. The sudden disruption spilt over to Thursday, with many flights standing cancelled, leading to chaotic scenes at airports.

Among other reasons, IndiGo has blamed the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms for the shortage in crew to operate the flights. In fact, the implementation of the FDTL norms from November 1 emerged as the biggest reason for the flight cancellations that month.

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), of the 1,232 flights cancelled by IndiGo in November, 61% or 755 cancellations were due to FDTL constraints. FDTL is designed to reduce fatigue and improve safety. The new norms required overhauls to duty schedules, night-landing plans and weekly rest charts.

The government had given airlines two years to adapt to the new FDTL rules. Experts said that IndiGo failed to comprehensively plan its winter schedule in the face of the FDTL norms. IndiGo’s competition, however, is sitting on better ground.

Air India and Air India Express have reduced the number of flights they plan to operate in the winter schedule by 3%. From 7,685 departures per week, the Tata group airlines would be operating 7,448 departures per week during the winter schedule.

Air India has also scaled back international flights over the last several months. This has allowed both the airlines, which control 27% of the domestic aviation market, to have relatively better availability of flight crews.

Ajay Singh-promoted SpiceJet has increased its winter departures per week by 26% to 1,568 compared to its summer schedule. But for the low-cost (LCC) airline, since around 50% of its fleet is wet leased, it is not majorly impacted by the new FDTL norms.

Akasa Air, the Jhunjhunwala family-promoted, Mumbai-based low-cost airline, had an excess number of pilots in its pool. Though there was a significant delay in Boeing's supply of new aircraft, Akasa continued to recruit new pilots, which has helped it maintain pilot availability.

IndiGo increased its departures per week by 6% to 15,014 in the winter schedule, as compared to 14,158 departures per week during the summer schedule, according to DGCA data. The increase had to come on the back of the implementation of the FDTL norms.

Aviation professional Shakti Lumba said, “Indigo has maximum night flight operations in the country, much more than Air India. IndiGo policy as LCC provides for a lean pilot work force with high utilisation for maximum duty time (up to limits) and minimum legal rest. Consequently, their flight schedule has caused a shortage of pilots due to night operation restrictions and increased rest to address pilot fatigue.”