India’s aviation sector is in the grip of its worst crisis in years, prompting the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to issue a sharp show cause notice to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers. The regulator has held him personally accountable for “significant lapses in planning, oversight, and resource management” that triggered massive nationwide flight disruptions. Elbers has been given just 24 hours to explain why enforcement action should not follow.
The notice, issued Saturday evening, accuses IndiGo of prima facie violations of Aircraft Rules and Civil Aviation Requirements. According to the DGCA, the airline failed to make requisite arrangements to comply with revised crew fatigue rules and neglected passenger facilities during the crisis. The ministry has warned that failure to respond on time will result in an ex parte decision.
In a parallel intervention, the civil aviation ministry imposed emergency fare caps ₹7,500 for routes under 500 km, up to ₹18,000 for routes beyond 1,500 km after flight cancellations sent prices soaring to as much as ten times normal fares. On major routes, return tickets had shot up to ₹80,000–₹93,000 as IndiGo’s cancellations wiped out capacity.
IndiGo has admitted to the scale of the crisis. On Friday, it operated just over 700 flights meaning nearly 1,500 cancellations, or 70% of daily operations. While Saturday saw improvement with over 1,500 flights, cancellations still hovered around 700. The airline has cancelled more than 3,600 flights since Tuesday, leaving thousands stranded at airports and struggling to retrieve checked baggage.
Calling Friday’s mass groundings a planned “reboot,” IndiGo said it has restored service to 135 of its 138 destinations and apologised to passengers. Still, concerns remain high after DGCA granted temporary exemptions from crew fatigue rules, a move pilot unions say could compromise safety.
Meanwhile, IndiGo’s stock has dropped 7.3% in four trading days, erasing over ₹16,000 crore in market value. The crisis has exposed structural vulnerabilities in the airline’s cost-optimised model and reliance on a single aircraft family issues now under intense regulatory scrutiny.
