Category World News

Air travel across India has been in chaos in the past week after the country’s largest airline, IndiGo, cancelled more than 2,000 flights starting on Friday, stranding thousands of passengers at airports across the country.

The airline, which operates about 2,200 flights a day, has been facing pilot shortages after it failed to adapt to the new pilot rest and duty rules introduced by the government early last year.

Mass cancellations of flights amid the busy travel season have caused a public outcry, forcing the government to intervene. The airline has been granted exemptions from the new rules, but the disruption has continued, with more than 600 flights cancelled on Sunday.

The airline says operations will be back to normal by December 10-15. The crisis is the biggest blow to the carrier in its 20-year operation.

What is behind the crisis, and what is the government doing to address it?

What we know so far

Starting on December 2, IndiGo flights were delayed and later cancelled due to apparent pilot shortages. Flight disruptions were recorded in Mumbai, Hyderabad and other cities.

On Friday, at least 1,000 flights were cancelled in one of the worst aviation crises in India.

More than 600 flights were cancelled on Sunday, according to the Indian media, despite the government offering exemptions to the private carrier. At least 385 flights were cancelled on Saturday, the fifth day of the crisis.

Thousands of passengers have been stranded at airports across the country due to the air disruption.

The Reuters news agency reported, quoting airport sources, that IndiGo cancelled 124 flights in Bengaluru, 109 in Mumbai, 86 in New Delhi and 66 in Hyderabad on Saturday.

Why did the new flight regulations lead to flight cancellations?

Early last year, the government announced new flight regulations – Flight Duty Time Limitations or FDTL – to improve the working hours of the Indian airlines’ pilots. However, when the November 1 deadline arrived, IndiGo airline was not prepared. As a result, it was first forced to delay and later cancel flights, as there were not enough pilots available.

FDTL was finally implemented in two phases this year, with the second phase coming into effect on November 1. The rules include:

• Increasing pilots’ mandatory weekly rest period from 36 to 48 hours. A pilot’s personal leave request, however, cannot be included under the mandatory rest period.
• Capping pilots’ flying hours that continue into the night to 10 hours.
• Capping the weekly number of landings a pilot can make between midnight and early morning to two.
• Submitting quarterly pilots’ fatigue reports to India’s aviation regulator – the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Aviation experts and pilot unions have said IndiGo has been the hardest hit due to negligence and a lack of planning for the new rules.

“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 behaviour, and demonstrated other short-sighted planning practices,” the Federation of Indian Pilots told the Press Trust of India news agency on December 4.

Former AirAsia CFO Vijay Gopalan blamed IndiGo’s “very very lackadaisical, nonchalant attitude” in adapting to the new rules as a reason for the crisis.

What steps has the government taken to address the crisis?

The government has ordered a high-level inquiry to determine the reasons and accountability for flight disruptions.

Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu blamed IndiGo for “mismanagement regarding their crew”, adding that other airlines were prepared for the changes.

The government on Friday announced exemptions from the new rules for the carrier and provided stranded passengers with train tickets to continue their journey.

IndiGo has been exempted until February 10 from the requirement to cap the weekly number of landings for a pilot between midnight and early morning. It has also been exempted from the pilots’ flight duty time.

The Airline Pilots Association of India has, however, protested against the exemptions, saying the rules “exist solely to safeguard human life”.

On Saturday, India’s aviation watchdog, the DGCA, sent a letter to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers, warning him of regulatory action amid flight cancellations.

“You have failed in your duty to ensure timely arrangements for conduct of reliable operations,” Reuters reported, quoting DGCA official Ravinder Singh Jamwal.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday also announced capping of airfares to control the surge in ticket prices due to a breakdown in IndiGo’s flight services.

When will the IndiGo operations return to normal?

Acknowledging its failure to adapt to the new rules, IndiGo has apologised for the serious “operational crisis”. It attributed the mass cancellations to “misjudgement and planning gaps”.

IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said in a video statement on Friday that it would “take some time” for the flight operations to get back to normal.

“Given the size, scale, and complexity of our operations, it will take some time to return to a full normal situation, which we anticipate between 10 and 15 December,” he said in the video.

In his message, Elbers announced that the airline has three lines of action to address the crisis, which include customer support measures to effectively communicate cancellations and refunds, aligning with the DGCA’s regulations.

The airline on Sunday afternoon said it is on track to operate more than 1,650 flights, up from 1,500 on Saturday. It added that 137 out of 138 destinations are in operation. Full waiver on cancellations and reschedule requests for bookings until December 15 will be given, it said.

Message from Pieter Elbers, CEO, IndiGo. pic.twitter.com/bXFdqoB0Q2

How are other leading Indian airlines managing?

Other Indian carriers, including Air India and Akasa Air, continue with their operations amid the chaos.

According to Indian media reports, Mumbai-based low-cost carrier Akasa Air, focused on recruiting new pilots, which helped it adapt to the new FDTL norms.

A report by Indian business portal Money Control noted that Tata-owned Air India also boosted flight crew for domestic flights, helping it better handle the new rules.

However, international flights by Air India and its sister company, budget carrier Air India Express, have reduced international flight operations to undertake more safety checks after a deadly June plane crash that killed 241 people in Gujarat state.

Has the crisis impacted airfare?

Yes. With IndiGo dominating the Indian aviation market, other airlines have hiked prices on many routes, especially return flights from metro cities New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

“That wasn’t pricing. It was profiteering. When systems collapse, the market becomes a vulture,” posted an X user after ticket prices soared.

According to Indian media reports, the Civil Aviation Ministry has warned airlines that it has “taken a serious note of unusually high airfares being charged by certain airlines during the ongoing disruption” and has in turn “invoked its regulatory powers to ensure fair and reasonable fares across all affected routes.”

As per a Reuters report, the government has said flight journeys between 1,000km and 1,500km (620-930 miles) should be capped at 15,000 rupees ($167).

Airfares were previously capped in India in May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the subcontinent ordered lockdowns and reduced flight operations. According to a study published last November by global trade association Airports Council International (ACI), India, however, saw a 43 percent rise in domestic fares in the first half of 2024 compared with 2019.

So far, Air India and Air India Express, which hold 26 percent of the market share, have addressed the situation and clarified that “economy class airfares on non-stop domestic flights have been proactively capped to prevent the usual demand-and-supply mechanism being applied by revenue management systems”.

External support for armed groups and mercenaries is the main obstacle to peace in Sudan, the country’s justice minister told Al Jazeera at the Doha Forum. He stressed the need for a democratic transition through a Sudanese-led dialogue process.

Doha, Qatar – The prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, has called for inclusive engagement, including with non-state actors such as the Palestinian group Hamas, as the only viable route to regional peace.

Speaking to United States journalist Tucker Carlson on Sunday at the Doha Forum, Sheikh Mohammed said you cannot resolve or reach a solution “if you have no one speaking to non-state actors”.

The start of Qatar’s relationship with Hamas goes back more than 10 years, he said, adding that opening the group’s office in the country came at the request of the US, aiming to enhance communications with the armed group.

“When they [Hamas] moved their office back in 2012 here [Qatar], it was used only for communication and to facilitate ceasefires and aid to Gaza,” Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the foreign minister, said.

Qatar has also hosted the Taliban’s political office since 2013, during the group’s war with the US and the former Afghan government. The office was also established at Washington’s request to create a venue for potential peace negotiations.

Sheikh Mohammed refuted allegations that any money going to Gaza went to Hamas, insisting it goes to the Palestinian people.

“Politicians are trying to use this for short-term political gains … to fuel their narratives,” the prime minister stated.

“All our aid, financing, and all our support … went to the people in Gaza, and was a very transparent process that the United States is very aware of … [and] Israel was the one facilitating.

“This communication has led to ceasefires, has led to the release of hostages, has led to alleviating the suffering of the people over there,” he added.

Israeli attack on Qatar ‘unethical’

Discussing Israel’s shocking attack on Qatar in September, Sheikh Mohammed described it as an “unethical move”.

“The concept of mediation is like having a safe place for conflicted parties to achieve a deal, to end wars and to end conflicts,” he said.

“The mediator being bombed by one of the parties – this has been unprecedented.”

The prime minister revealed that US President Donald Trump was caught off guard by Israel’s actions.

“President Trump was very clear from the beginning… When he was informed about the attack, he assigned one of his advisers to reach out to us immediately. He expressed his frustration, his disappointment, because he knows everything about the process and how helpful we were throughout,” he said.

“He made it very clear for everyone that this is like the red line, that he doesn’t want anyone to cross.”

Reconstructing Gaza

On the reconstruction of a devastated Gaza, following Israel’s ongoing two-year genocidal war, Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar would “continue supporting the Palestinian people”.

“We will do whatever to alleviate their suffering,” he emphasised.

However, he said Qatar “will not write the cheque for what others destroyed”.

“When it comes to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, we hear that Russia should fund all the reconstruction, and their assets should be seized to fund all the reconstruction of Ukraine,” he pointed out. “[But] when you are talking about Israel … and you say that Israel has the responsibility to rebuild what is destroyed, they will tell you no. It’s really a very ironic double standard.

“Our position is that our payments will go only to help the Palestinian people, if we see that the help coming to them is insufficient,” Sheikh Mohammed added.

According to UN estimates, 92 percent of all residential buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed since Israel’s war on the besieged enclave began on October 7, 2023, producing between 55-60 million tonnes of rubble. It has been estimated by the UN that it will take decades to rebuild.

Moreover, the prime minister firmly opposed any forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel.

“It’s hurting us when we hear people talking about the people of Gaza as some sort of different people,” he said.

A drone attack by the RSF and its allied al-Hilou group on a preschool in Kalogi in Sudan has killed more than 100 people, dozens of whom were children. It sparked international condemnation amid worsening violence as the RSF fights Sudan’s Armed Forces in South Kordofan state.

Bethlehem has lit its Christmas tree for the first time since Israel began its genocide on Palestinians in Gaza, offering a rare moment of hope even as West Bank residents under occupation face severe economic hardships and ongoing Israeli assaults.