Mumbai
The government has cracked the whip on IndiGo and issued a show cause notice to its chief executive officer Pieter Elbers following large scale disruption of flights over the past few days.
The show cause notice to Elbers was issued on Saturday evening by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
The notice said as the CEO of the company Elbers was responsible for ensuring effective management of the airline but failed to make effective arrangements for the conduct of reliable operations and provide requisite facilities to passengers.
IndiGo which is the largest domestic airline has been cancelling hundreds of flights through the week over non availability of pilots. While the government has stepped in to provide relief by capping fares and given certain relaxations to IndiGo to enable it to maintain normal operations, it hasn’t taken the disruptions lightly given that it coincided with high profile visit of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
DGCA said the primary cause of flight disruptions was non provision of enough pilots for smooth implementation of the flight duty and time limitations (FDTL) norms which kicked in from November 1.
The DGCA said such large scale operational failures indicate significant lapses in planning, oversight and resource management and is prime facie non-compliant with provisions of Aircraft Rules 1937 and the FDTL norms. Also the airline failed to provide adequate information and facilities to passengers impacted by the cancellations.
Elbers has been asked to respond within 24 hours why no appropriate enforcement action should be taken against him for violation of the rules.
Published on December 6, 2025
