NEW DELHI, DEC 12 (UNI) The GST Commissionerate on Friday imposed Rs 58.74 crore demand and penalty on beleaguered IndiGo airlines, and summoned Pieter Elbers, the chief executive of the airlines, to appear before a high-level committee investigating the week-long wave of mass flight disruptions that threw the country’s air travel system into chaos.
The move by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) marks the most pointed intervention in the crisis that saw the India’s largest airline cancel more than 3,000 flights and delay thousands more.
Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded as IndiGo’s tightly choreographed operations unraveled, airports filled with mountains of unclaimed luggage, and ticket prices on rival carriers soared.
The turmoil, regulators and aviation experts said the crisis stemmed from IndiGo’s failure to adequately prepare for new DGCA rules mandating longer rest periods and shorter duty hours for pilots requirements that took effect recently and had been announced months in advance.
With few pilots to comply with the revised fatigue-management norms, flight crews began “timing out,” forcing the aircraft to remain grounded. What began as scattered cancellations quickly escalated into a gridlock that rippled through the entire aviation ecosystem.
At major hubs, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, frustrated travellers queued for hours, slept on terminal floors and attempted to rebook tickets that grew more expensive by the hour.
Meanwhile, the airlines tendered an apology, saying it is working “round the clock” to restore schedules, but the regulator’s decision to question Elbers signals mounting concern in New Delhi over the airline’s preparedness and transparency.
Officials say the inquiry committee will examine not only the immediate causes of the meltdown but also broader questions about staffing norms, crisis management and the resilience of India’s rapidly expanding but vulnerable aviation market.
For many passengers, the episode has served as a stark reminder of how fragile that system remains. And for the regulator, the summons suggests a shift from mere oversight to accountability — a rare but telling gesture in a sector where operational missteps can cascade into nationwide disorder within hours.
The latest tax demand from GST is added complication for the airline which has already flown into rough weather.
Sources also claimed that the DGCA on Friday sacked four consultants for negligence in matter related to regulatory oversight in the Indigo imbroglio.
