Aviation regulator DGCA enhances monitoring of airlines to ensure compliance with norms: Govt
The Civil Aviation Ministry on Monday said the DGCA has increased monitoring on a weekly and fortnightly basis for critical operations of airlines, along with bi-monthly visits by the watchdog'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 recurrence of 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 management structure and operational control on the part of the airline.
“DGCA has introduced more robust measures to ensure compliance by airlines with regulations which include -- increased monitoring on weekly and fortnightly basis for critical operations along with bi-monthly visits to the operator by 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. DGCA had also taken various regulatory actions against the airline.
Mohol, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, in a separate written reply, said a total of 550 operator and organisation-wise Level II repetitive findings were noticed by the DGCA 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 finding requires immediate attention and rectification, and the timeline for closure of such a finding is seven days, whereas a Level-II finding must be resolved within 30 days.
“Continued operations are not allowed with a level-I finding without its rectification. In rare cases, operations are allowed under control/ restricted environment. In case of violations, DGCA initiates enforcement actions against the airline/ organisation/ personnel which may include warning, suspension or cancellation of approval/ certificate/ licence, including imposition of financial penalty,” the minister said.
