An eight-person "oversight team" of senior flight operations inspectors was established by DGCA on Wednesday in a first-of-its-kind measure to supervise IndiGo's operational elements, including daily flight, crew availability, and pilot shortage situation monitoring.
The cancellation and refund status, the payment of compensation to passengers for service deficiencies in accordance with standards, and the baggage return status will be supervised by two officials (not pilots).
Every day, two senior FOIs (who are pilots) will stay at the airline's Gurgaon office to maintain a tight watch. A daily report will be sent to DGCA by both teams.
The directive was issued after government data on Wednesday revealed that IndiGo had canceled one-fourth of the 17,404 domestic flights it was scheduled to operate from December 1-9 (including both days).
Between December 1 and December 9, IndiGo canceled one-fourth of 17,404 domestic flights, which explains the extraordinary mayhem at Indian airports.
However, only slightly more than 2% of the 2,702 foreign flights that were scheduled to run during that time were canceled. Due to the extent of the disruption, the government and DGCA have taken a number of actions. On Thursday at 3 p.m., Pieter Elbers, the CEO of the airline, and his team were called back to the regulator's office to provide "comprehensive" data and to explain the measures being taken to stabilize the ship, such as hiring pilots to fill the crew shortage.
An additional 160-170 flights per day could be operated by SpiceJet and Air India. Eleven airports, including Nagpur, Jaipur, Bhopal, Vijaywada, Cochin, Lucknow, Amritsar, and Dehradun, will be inspected by DGCA authorities to evaluate IndiGo's operational readiness there as well as the airline's "responsiveness during the disruption."
The existing discrepancy between the need and supply of crew members is caused by IndiGo's delayed recruiting of pilots, even though the company has increased its flights and inducted a jet per week.
In order to prevent a repeat of this month's disruption, the airline must now provide the government with all of its operating details before its schedule can be approved.
On Thursday, Elbers and his staff will have to update the regulator on the state of flight restoration, how impacted passengers are being accommodated, and the monitoring system in place to guarantee prompt restoration completion.
They will be questioned on the status of refunds, baggage returns, prompt communication regarding cancellations and delays, and the policy for passenger rerouting on alternate flights.
