📌 Key Highlights
- These inspectors are senior officials who work as part of DGCA’s regulatory and safety oversight functions, often depl…
- The officers are Rishi Raj Chatterjee, consultant, deputy chief FOI, Seema Jhamnani, senior FOI, Anil Kumar Pokhariyal, …
These inspectors are senior officials who work as part of DGCA’s regulatory and safety oversight functions, often deployed to monitor airline operations. “Contracts of these FOIs with the DGCA have been terminated in relation to the recent IndiGo crisis,” an official said, citing the order dated December 11.
The officers are Rishi Raj Chatterjee, consultant, deputy chief FOI, Seema Jhamnani, senior FOI, Anil Kumar Pokhariyal, consultant FOI, and Priyam Kaushik, consultant FOI. Chatterjee worked with Vistara, Jhamnani with the erstwhile Indian Airlines, Pokhariyal with Alliance Air, and Kaushik with IndiGo, till 2024, said people aware of developments.
Separately, fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India is examining whether IndiGo, which controls 65% of the country’s aviation market, violated competition norms, a senior official said on Friday. CCI is internally examining whether IndiGo violated competition norms, a senior official told PTI, adding that aspects such as the overall dominant position, dominance in particular routes, and potential abuse of dominance will be looked into. To be sure, there is no formal complaint against IndiGo and CCI is examining whether competition rules have been violated suo motu, the official added.
HT reported earlier this week on data presented in Parliament that showed how far the airline had stretched its self-touted lean operations structure –– IndiGo’s pilot strength saw a 7% reduction between March and December even as the airline was scheduled to fly 6% more flights in the winter season compared to the summer schedule.
People scrambled to reschedule their flights, struggled to get refunds and find their luggage as the airline stonewalled passengers and offered little transparency. As the turbulence deepened, the ministry and regulator also came under fire for not doing enough to mitigate the crisis.
On December 5, DGCA exempted Indigo’s Airbus A320 fleet from certain rules on pilot duty hours at night and allowed IndiGo to call back pilots deputed elsewhere for flying duties. Separately, it withdrew a rule that prevented airlines from counting pilot leave as weekly rest to meet flying duty norms. Still, the disruptions continued unabated. The move was criticised by pilots and experts who said that this would compromise safety, which was the primary motivation for such rules. The regulator insisted the exemption was granted “solely to facilitate operational stabilisation and in no way amounts to dilution of safety requirements”.
As the ministry and the regulator came under fire, DGCA on Wednesday installed officers at IndiGo’s corporate office and airports to oversee and report on the airline’s flailing operations. An eight-member team of senior flight operations inspectors will scrutinise IndiGo total fleet, the number of pilots, network details and crew utilisation. A two-member team, also deployed at IndiGo’s corporate office, will monitor the status of cancellations, on-time performance, refunds and baggage returns to fliers.
The government also trimmed the airline’s winter schedule by 10% on Tuesday.
