Indigo Says Airline 'Back On Its Feet' But Asked To Cut Flights By 10% ALPA India To Brief Parliament On FDTL: 5 Points

(MENAFN- Live Mint) As a crisis grips India's largest carrier, IndiGo, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry ordered the airline to curtail its overall operations by 10 per cent. Meanwhile, the Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA India) has been invited to Parliament by the Parliamentary Standing Committee to present its concerns on Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), pilot fatigue and growing safety risks in the aviation sector.

Here are top updates:

1. In an official statement, ALPA India said it "has been officially invited by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture to present pilots' concerns on FDTL non-compliance, duty-time violations, and operational stress."

"For the first time, pilot fatigue, FDTL violations, and safety-critical operational realities will be heard at the highest legislative forum," the statement added.

2. IndiGo said Tuesday its operations had stabilise after it cancelled thousands of flights, triggering days of airport chaos last week. The airline is“back on its feet,” said IndiGo CEO Peter Elber.

"Our on-time performance is... back to normal levels," an IndiGo statement said, adding the airline was operating more than 1,800 flights on Tuesday, and planned to "fly nearly 1,900 flights" on Wednesday.

3. But, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry told the company to cut its planned flights by 10 percent as it had "not demonstrated an ability to operate these schedules efficiently". The DGCA has asked IndiGo to submit a revised schedule by 5 pm on December 10.

The ministry ordered the airline to curtail its overall operations by 10 per cent, up from an earlier order of 5 per cent. The airline is ordered to continue covering its usual destinations.

The measure“will help in stabilising the airline's operations and lead to reduced cancellations,” India's civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said in a social media post on Tuesday.

4. In the midst of numerous flight cancellations that caused chaos for passengers, top officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) conducted surprise and thorough inspections of some airports with heavy air traffic on Tuesday.

Madhu Sudan Shankar, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, visited the Mumbai airport while assuring people that "things are in control."

"Things are in control. We discussed with all the stakeholders, especially the airport operators, ATC control managers. Major affected sectors of the flight delays domestically are Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi, Goa and Lucknow. A lot of improvements also took place," he was quoted by ANI as saying.

3. In Kolkata, MoCA Director Tanvi Sundriyal visited Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. She undertook a comprehensive inspection of passenger touchpoints and interacted directly with affected travellers to understand their concerns firsthand.

Her visit covered key areas, including IndiGo's Helpdesk; Airline Ticket Booking Counters; Check-in Counters; Security Hold Area (SHA); Departure Gates & Queue Management Zones.

(With inputs from agencies)

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