It is pertinent to mention that, IndiGo has seen its pilots' strength depleting by 378 pilots in the last nine months despite its chief operating officer and Accountable Manager, Isidro Porqueras stating to the DGCA in a letter last December that "the overall impact of implementing the proposed changes above (now-implemented FDTL) norms would amount to an approximate 3 per cent increase in crewing requirements.

As per a reply in Parliament to a member's question earlier this year, IndiGo had employed 5,463 pilots as of March 20, 2025.

However, as per data presented by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol on December 8 in reply to a Member's question, IndiGo had employed 5,085 pilots.

Keeping a tight watch on IndiGo's operations, the DGCA has decided to station its personnel at IndiGo's headquarters, as it steps up oversight on India's largest airline, which continues to cancel dozens of flights despite saying operations have stabilised.

The DGCA has formed an oversight team of eight senior captains, and two of them, along with two government officials, will be stationed at IndiGo's Gurgaon headquarters to monitor cancellation status, crew deployment, unplanned leave, and routes hit by staff shortages.

These teams will submit a daily report to the regulator, as per an order.

Pilots' body Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) in the recent past alleged that while all other airlines have provisioned pilots adequately and remain largely unaffected due to timely planning and preparation, the current disruption at IndiGo was the direct consequence of the airline's "prolonged and unorthodox lean manpower strategy across departments, particularly in flight operations."

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," it said.