Passengers' safety can't be traded off, says pilots' body FIP on Rs 22.20 crore penalty against IndiGo

Mumbai: Pilots' body FIP on Monday criticised aviation regulator DGCA for imposing a 'very meagre' penalty of Rs 22.20 crore on IndiGo for the large-scale flight disruptions that impacted lakhs of travellers in December, saying safety of passengers and aircraft cannot be 'traded off'.

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) questioned the flight cancellation period considered in the probe by the regulator, and said the penalty amount is "very, very meagre".

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday announced the enforcement actions after a detailed probe.

It slapped penalties totalling Rs 22.20 crore on IndiGo for cancelling thousands of flights in early December, and warned airline CEO Pieter Elbers and chief operating officer Isidre Proqueras, besides ordering the removal of Senior Vice President for Operations Control centre (OCC) Jason Herter from his current position for non-compliance.

Between December 3 and 5, the DGCA said, 2,507 flights were cancelled, and 1,852 flights were delayed, impacting over 3 lakh passengers at airports across the country.

The DGCA has imposed a total penalty of Rs 20.40 crore for the non-compliance for 68 days from December 5, 2025, to February 10, 2026. The amount translates to a Rs 30 lakh fine for each day during the period.

DGCA cited over-optimisation of operations, inadequate regulatory preparedness, along with deficiencies in system software support, as among the primary reasons for the disruptions.

The pilots' body FIP cited the example of the US Department of Transport, and said it imposed a penalty of USD 140 million on Southwest Airlines for multiple violations of consumer protection laws during the Christmas holidays in December 2022 and distributed the amount to the affected passengers.

"It (the DGCA report and subsequent action) is a joke. What is the concrete action taken here? They have not punished anyone. Civil Aviation Minister (K Rammmohan Naidu) on the floor of Parliament said very strict action will be taken. Does the very strict action here mean only a warning? A warning is issued (to a person/persons) in an organisation for smaller mistakes (not disruptions of such magnitude). In this case, there was a national crisis. And they have only issued a warning and moved just one OCC head," FIP president G S Randhawa told PTI

Randhawa said that the cancellations started on December 2 and went on till December 15. The disruptions continued beyond December 15 and were largely in the form of delays and some cancellations. But in the probe report, the DGCA has mentioned the period only between December 3 and December 5.

"This is also questionable." He further said that when IndiGo cancelled 1,600 flights, a record number of cancellations in the history of aviation, Elbers remained tight-lipped on the reason behind the massive disruptions -- the stricter duty hours and rest period norms for pilots.

On December 5, in a video message, Elbers for the first time acknowledged operational turmoil, that too without sharing any specific numbers of flight cancellations.

"...the report did not bring out that the aircraft were available on the ground, pilots were available in the flight dispatch, and so was the cabin crew, then why were flights not allowed for dispatch?" questioned Randhawa.

"Also, you can't trade FDTL against fine. Duty period and rest norms for crew are meant for passengers and flight safety. And here you are trading it against fine? And if IndiGo's winter flight schedule was slashed by 10 per cent or 220 flights per day, then why did you not withdraw the dispensation, which has been given to them till February 10?" he asked.

In early December, IndiGo cancelled hundreds of flights across the country as the airline was not adequately prepared to implement the new flight duty norms for pilots.

Following the disruptions last month, the DGCA had curtailed IndiGo's winter schedule flights by 10 per cent.

Last month, the airline was provided relaxation till February 10 to comply with the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.

Following the large-scale disruptions in IndiGo operations, DGCA set up a four-member committee headed by Joint Director General Sanjay K Brahmane to carry out a comprehensive review and assessment of the circumstances that led to the massive flight disruptions.

The panel submitted its report to the DGCA on December 27 last year.