New Delhi, March 9 The Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Monday that the DGCA has increased monitoring on a weekly and fortnightly basis for critical operations of airlines, along with bi-monthly visits by the regulator's inspector at the airlines' offices to ensure their compliance with regulations.
Responding to a query in the Rajya Sabha on the reasons for the large-scale disruptions at IndiGo in December 2025 and action taken to prevent a similar situation in the future, Union Minister Murlidhar Mohol said the primary causes for the disruption were over-optimisation of operations, inadequate regulatory preparedness, along with deficiencies in system software support and shortcomings in the airline's management structure and operational control.
"The DGCA has introduced more robust measures to ensure compliance by airlines with regulations, which include increased monitoring on a weekly and fortnightly basis for critical operations, along with bi-monthly visits to the operator by the DGCA's principal point-of-contact inspector – to closely monitor the airline's operations, with particular emphasis on roster integrity, crew availability, buffer adequacy, system robustness, and adherence to FDTL requirements," he said in a written reply.
The Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms are implemented by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
In December 2025, the country's largest airline, IndiGo, faced massive operational disruptions that resulted in hundreds of flight cancellations and impacted thousands of passengers. The DGCA had also taken various regulatory actions against the airline.
Mohol, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, in a separate written reply, said that the DGCA had noticed a total of 550 operator and organisation-wise Level II repetitive findings from 2023-25, and 29 enforcement actions were taken.
As of December 31, 2025, no Level-I deficiencies are pending for closure, he said.
Level-I findings require immediate attention and rectification, and the timeline for closure of such a finding is seven days, whereas Level-II findings must be resolved within 30 days.
"Operations are not allowed with a Level-I finding without its rectification. In rare cases, operations are allowed under controlled/restricted environment. In case of violations, the DGCA initiates enforcement actions against the airline/organisation/personnel, which may include warnings, suspension or cancellation of approval/certificate/license, including the imposition of financial penalties," the minister said.