DGCA cracks down on IndiGo, to station nine officials at airline headquarters

Launching a crackdown on IndiGo, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, that it will depute nine senior officials at the airline’s headquarters in Gurugram, Haryana, to monitor its fleet, pilot roster, network planning and crew utilization.

The aviation regulator has also summoned IndiGo Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pieter Elbers to a meeting on Thursday, December 11, 2025, to explain the major flight disruptions that have plagued India’s largest airline since early December as it failed to plan new rules that reduce night flights and increase rest periods for pilots.

Mr. Elbers is likely to be asked about efforts to reorganize flights, pilot and cabin crew hiring plans, refunds and baggage check-in, among other passenger-focused concerns.

Two of the nine DGCA officials will monitor the status of flight delays and cancellations, as well as the airline’s refunds and compensation to passengers. The airline has not yet publicly disclosed any figures regarding the compensation amount. DGCA rules require compensation of 10,000 Indian rupees for cancellations and 20,000 Indian rupees for delayed, lost and damaged baggage if the flight duration is two hours.

DGCA officials will also conduct inspections at the airports in the next 2-3 days and prepare a comprehensive report on the status of flight operations and the airline’s passenger treatment.

The decision on Wednesday, December 11, 2025, came after the Prime Minister’s Office met with officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA and Airports Authority of India (AAI) to review passenger complaints regarding refunds, missing baggage and crowd management at airports due to major flight disruptions on IndiGo.

IndiGo canceled around 5,700 flights between November 21 and December 9, affecting 12.5 lakh passengers. The airline government informed that a total refund of ₹1,158 crore has been made to the government so far. 7,750 of the total 9,000 delayed bags were delivered, and the rest are planned to be delivered soon.

The government has also constituted a four-member committee to conduct an investigation into the flight disruption saga at IndiGo and the DGCA has issued notices to the airline’s CEO and chief operating officer, Isidre Porqueras.

Message from the chairman of the board

In response to criticism on social media regarding the board’s role in maintaining oversight, the airline released a video message from executive chairman Vikram Singh Mehta on Wednesday, December 10.

He apologized three times for the fiasco in the video, saying, “After the first day of outages, we held an emergency board meeting and established a crisis management group. Since then, board members have been in constant communication with the management team.”

It also rejected allegations that the airline had “engineered” the operational disruption and attempts to bypass rules governing pilot rest and duty periods despite the DGCA issuing multiple orders granting various exemptions to the airline as requested.