IndiGo on Wednesday said it has started complying with new flight safety rules that were set in place in November last year but sparked a chaos in operations early December. The budget airline informed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation that all necessary operational, rostering, and monitoring arrangements are being put in place to ensure compliance with approved Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations with effect from Feb. 11, 2026.
The airline had blamed the norms for the large scale flight disruptions last year, following which the regulator granted it a one-time exemption till Feb. 10, 2026 to comply with the rules. The FDTL norms permit a lesser number of night landings for a pilot. IndiGo did not plan adequately to implement the norms, forcing the airline to cancel more than 1,600 flights on a single day. After disruptions, DGCA directed IndiGo to cut its winter schedule by 10%.
"During the validity of the exemptions, IndiGo Airlines flight operations were monitored closely through periodic review meetings with DGCA. Further, DGCA officers were deployed at various airports to oversee passenger handling and address passenger inconvenience. In addition, Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) were positioned at IndiGo Airlines Operations Control Centre for real-time monitoring of flight operations, ensuring continuous regulatory oversight during the exemption period," a notice said.
Shares of parent InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. surged nearly 2% intraday on the NSE. The stock is down 13% since the flight disruptions hit in early December.
Against the backdrop of new norms necessitating the deployment of more pilots for night operations, IndiGo has reportedly revised higher allowances doled out to the pilots. The hikes, ranging from as little as Rs 25 to Rs 2,000, will be for various allowance categories, including domestic layover, deadhead and night.
The night allowance per night hour for a captain and a first officer has been raised to Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000, respectively.
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