IndiGo scaled up ops but pilot count dipped: Data

WEeks after the rural area’s air power regulator sanctioned a 6% increment in flights for indigo plant, as part of the airline’s winter schedule, the ministry of civil aviation said there would be a 10% reduction instead, a consequence of the inability of India’s largest carrier to meet new flight rostering norms that saw it cancelling more than 5,500 flights in the first nine days of December.Numbers presented in the Lok Sabha on December 8 highlight just why the airline was unable to meet the new flight duty timing limits, first mooted in January 2024 , although the airlines got enough time to prepare with some of the norms coming into effect this July, and the rest on November 1. The numbers show a 7% reduction in the number of pilots at IndiGo between March and December.Contrary to what its Chief Operating Officer (COO) Isidro Proqueras had said in the airline’s submission to the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in December last year that “the overall impact of implementing the proposed changes above would amount to an approximate 3% increase in crewing requirements”, IndiGo has actually seen its number of pilots fall to 5,085 (December 8 reply) from 5,463 (according to a March 2025 reply), as per government data.Air India saw the number of pilots on its rolls increase from 3,280 to 6,350 in this period; and SpiceJet, from 369 to 385.The December chaos (coming after the airline cancelled over 1,200 flights in November, with around 750 being cancelled because of the new norms) prompted India’s civil aviation ministry to relax the norms for IndiGo, a move that some analysts have said is akin to giving in to blackmail, and which was criticised by an international pilot’s body onTuesday. Captain Ron Hay, president of the Montreal-based International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), said India’s decision to grant the exemption to the rest rules was concerning because it was not based on scientific evidence.“We are informed that the change is due to staffing issues,” he told Reuters. “This is troubling as fatigue clearly affects safety.” Hay warned the government’s decision could also exacerbate staffing issues given that working conditions account for one of the reasons pilots depart airlines based in the country.The new crew rostering norms were in keeping with international standards, and aimed at reducing pilot fatigue and improving safety.The reduction in its pilot strength at a time when the airline needs more pilots is strange, a former airline executive said.“This is ridiculous,and most unjustified when you knew the new FDTL (flight duty time limitation) would require at least 20% more pilots to be hired. The reduction in the number of pilots at IndiGo is suicidal and has no logic making it seem like a deliberate move,” this person added, asking not to be named.Indeed, some, including the airline’s own staff in well-publicised open letters, have claimed that the airline deliberately allowed the chaos to play out hoping that this would force the ministry to relax the new norms.Pilots’ body Airline Pilots Association of India (ALPA) India too, earlier this month, alleged that “this situation points to a failure of proactive resource planning by dominant airlines, potentially exacerbated by an effort to pressurise the regulator to dilute the promulgated FDTL norms for commercial gain.”Another pilots’ body, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), said the current disruption at IndiGo was the direct consequence of the airline’s “prolonged and unorthodox lean manpower strategy across departments, particularly in flight operations”.Despite the two-year preparatory window before full FDTL implementation, the airline “inexplicably adopted a hiring freeze, entered non-poaching arrangements, maintained a pilot pay freeze through cartel-like behavior, and demonstrated other short-sighted planning practices,” FIP said.To be sure, IndiGo is by far the largest operator in India’s skies. It has captured more than 65% of the domestic market.IndiGo did not flag any concerns about adapting to the revised crew fatigue rules during a meeting with the DGCA on December 1, a day before operational problems at India’s biggest airline became apparent, civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu told Parliament on Monday.Between December 1 and December 8, the airline cancelled around 4,500 flights.In January 2024, the DGCA introduced new pilot duty norms, including an increase in weekly rest from 36 to 48 hours and limits on the number of night flights a pilot can operate. However, these changes were put on hold due to severe resistance from airlines, prompting pilots’ unions to approach the court. After several rounds of court-ordered mediation between airlines and pilot associations, the regulator agreed to a staggered implementation of the revised FDTL norms.