DGCA relieves four flight operations inspectors amid massive IndiGo flight cancellations

Aviation safety regulator DGCA has suspended four flight operations inspectors (FOI) over major disruptions in IndiGo’s operations that led to thousands of flights being canceled and thousands of passengers stranded at airports.

On Friday alone, the airline canceled more than 50 flights from Bengaluru Airport.

Who are FOIs?

FOIs are senior officials who work within the Directorate General of Civil Aviation as part of its regulatory and safety oversight functions and are often assigned to monitor airline operations.

“Upon the approval of the Competent Authority, the following FOIs falling in various categories on a contract basis with the DGCA have been removed from the DGCA with immediate effect to join their respective parent organisations,” an order of the DGCA states.

The suspended officials (Rish Raj Chatterjee, Seema Jhamnani, Anil Kumar Pokhariyal and Priyam Kaushik) took office on contractual basis.

These authorities ensure aviation safety by inspecting, inspecting and certifying airlines and personnel such as pilots, dispatchers and cabin crew to meet strict regulatory standards. They were verifying various regulations in India and inspecting training, flying standards and accident prevention measures.

The troubled airline had canceled more than 200 flights from Delhi and Bengaluru on Thursday.

Meanwhile, IndiGo said it operated over 2,000 flights on Friday as per its revised ‘reduced’ schedule.

Under the winter schedule, which starts in the last week of October and will last until the last week of March next year, IndiGo has been allowed to operate 15,014 flights per week or 2,144 per day on domestic routes.

Earlier on Thursday, an inquiry panel questioned CEO Pieter Elbers as the DGCA intensified its scrutiny on IndiGo by sending officials to the airline’s headquarters to closely monitor operations.

Elbers, who faced the investigation panel appointed by the DGCA on Thursday, was asked to return for further questioning on Friday.

The four-member panel comprises Joint Director Sanjay Brahamane, Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, senior Flight Operations Inspector Kapil Manglik and FOI Lokesh Rampal and has the mandate to identify the root causes of widespread operational disruptions at the leading domestic carrier.

The committee’s mandate includes assessing manpower planning, variable staffing systems and the airline’s readiness to implement the latest duty and rest norms for pilots that came into effect from November 1 this year.