Jakarta, hitclubapk3 Indonesia
—
Thousands of flights of India’s largest airline,
IndiGo
, has been canceled due to a pilot crisis that has disrupted air travel during the holiday season in the world’s most populous country.
Since December 2, IndiGo, which operates 2,200 flights per day, has been forced to cancel around 3,400 flights.This is the worst crisis in 20 years of operation, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
More than 1,600 flights were canceled on Friday (5/12).The day after, more than 700 flights were cancelled, followed by around 650 flights on Sunday (7/12).As of Monday (8/12), around 400 flights had been cancelled.
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Flight disruptions occurred in a number of major cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, stranding thousands of passengers.
The airline said operations would return to normal on December 15.
The flight disruption sparked major protests.IndiGo controls 65 percent of the market share, the impact on travel and ticket prices is significant, to the point where the government is forced to step in and set a cap on domestic fares.
Together with Air India, IndiGo controls 92 percent of the market share.IndiGo is also the only airline that serves various small cities like Shillong, Kolhapur, Prayagraj, Agra and Deogarh, thereby having a monopoly on these routes.
Previously, in early 2024, the Indian government implemented Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations to improve the regulation of working hours, rest time and pilot fatigue management.
This regulation lowers the maximum daily working hours limit and tightens pilot rest provisions to be closer to international standards.
Starting November 1, there are new regulations such as limiting night flying hours to a maximum of 10 hours, sending pilot fatigue reports every three months to the DGCA, pilots being required to rest 48 hours weekly, and limiting the number of midnight and early morning landings to twice a week.
The regulations are also set to reduce pilot fatigue and improve aviation safety by aligning Indian regulations with global standards issued by ICAO and EASA.
The rules come after years of demands from pilots’ unions such as ALPA who fear safety risks and health impacts from long and irregular working hours.
However, aviation experts and pilots unions say IndiGo is underprepared and negligent in adapting the rules.
Former AirAsia CFO Vijay Gopalan said IndiGo’s attitude was very relaxed and not serious about dealing with regulatory changes.
The Federation of Indian Pilots said IndiGo had actually stopped recruitment, made an anti-piracy agreement, froze pilot salaries and carried out other short-term planning.
(rnp/dna)
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