India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), is expected to give IndiGo a temporary, partial waiver from the recently implemented pilot rest and duty rules after the airline was forced to cancel more than a thousand flights in the coming days due to a severe pilot shortage. IndiGo, which commands over 60% of the domestic market, has slipped into one of its worst operational crises after the rollout of the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) left it without sufficient crew.The new rules — introduced in two phases, in June and from 1 November — capped the number of landings pilots can undertake between midnight and 6 am. The second phase had originally been delayed by a year to help airlines plan staffing, and although carriers lobbied for further postponement, the DGCA enforced the norms following a Delhi High Court mandate. A person aware of developments was quoted by ET as saying that IndiGo has now been granted a temporary waiver “till they settle their operations” and has been asked to submit a mitigation plan with firm commitments.“IndiGo has been given a temporary waiver till they settle their operations. The airline has been asked to give a mitigation plan and commitment to fix this,” the person said.People involved in operations blamed poor internal planning, saying the airline assumed the regulator would allow more time and therefore neither hired enough pilots nor ramped up training. According to an official cited by ET, IndiGo’s usual four per cent crew buffer has dropped to zero under the new requirements, calling the lack of preparation a “strategic mistake”.“IndiGo has always maintained around four percent crew as a buffer for extraordinary situations. With increased crew requirement due to the new rules, now it is zero. That the rules would take effect from November was known to all. Not planning accordingly was a strategic mistake,” the official said.The Airline Pilots’ Association of India earlier suggested that the cancellations may be a pressure tactic to dilute the rules, arguing that airlines began preparations too late, ET reported.‘Despite sufficient time being accorded, most airlines started preparing rather late, failing to properly adjust crew rosters 15 days in advance as required,” the association said.Civil aviation ministry and DGCA have already begun intensive monitoring after IndiGo reported widespread disruptions since late November. The regulator flagged that the carrier had been cancelling 170–200 flights a day and directed it to normalise operations quickly and prevent fare spikes. IndiGo blamed the turmoil on the transition to revised FDTL norms, crew-planning issues and winter-weather constraints.IndiGo has told the DGCA that more cancellations will continue for two to three days as it resets schedules and that it will proactively scale down operations from 8 December to rebuild pilot buffers. The airline has said full stability will return by 10 February 2026, supported by accelerated hiring, intensive training and phased flight reintroduction.
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