Delhi: India’s aviation regulator has launched one of its toughest crackdowns in recent years, dismissing four senior Flight Operations Inspectors who were directly overseeing IndiGo as the airline’s nationwide disruption crisis continues to snowball. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) removed the officers on Friday, December 12, amid mounting public outrage as thousands of passengers remain stranded due to large-scale cancellations.
The government has now activated an emergency monitoring mechanism to bring the situation under control. The Civil Aviation Ministry has created an eight-member special oversight team — all from DGCA’s administration division — tasked with tracking airline operations and passenger services across the country on a real-time basis.
The special team includes Captain Vikram Sharma, Captain Kapil Mangalik, Capt VP Singh, Apoorva Agarwal, Swati Loomba, Aman Suhag, Nitya Jain and Capt N J Singh. These officers will monitor everything from crew deployment to flight delays, cancellations, and passenger support systems.
In a rare move, two DGCA officers will be stationed inside IndiGo’s Gurugram headquarters every day. They will scrutinise fleet rotation, pilot availability, network planning, leaves, standby crew strength and performance of sectors most affected by the meltdown.
Another pair — Deputy Director Aishveer Singh and Senior Statistical Officer Mani Bhushan — will closely track cancellation volumes, refund processing on airline and OTA platforms, compensation delivery and baggage clearance.
Both teams must file a detailed performance report daily by 6 PM to Joint DG Harish Kumar Vashisth and Joint DG Jai Prakash Pandey, marking a new level of government intervention in airline operations.
With disruptions still spreading, the DGCA has also summoned IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers to appear on Thursday, December 11. He has been directed to present a full operational audit, explain the causes of the crisis and outline how the airline plans to stabilise its services and strengthen staffing.
