India's largest airline inches back to normalcy

India's largest airline on Monday said its network was fully restored after hundreds of flights were canceled since Dec. 2 due to failure to plan for the new flight duty timings imposed on pilots.

According to IndiGo, the airline on Monday operated over 1,800 flights, up from Sunday's 1,650.

"We have optimized our operations and managed to reduce the number of cancelations which are being notified to customers in advance, and our on-time performance has also improved to 91 percent across the network," IndiGo said in a statement.

The airline has a fleet of over 400 aircraft, and used to operate around 2,300 flights daily from over 90 domestic airports and 40 international airports.

The operational crisis at IndiGo was caused by a shortage of pilots and flight crew in view of the new Flight Duty Time Limitations rules that mandated 48 hours of rest per week for pilots, up from 12 hours. IndiGo has admitted to misjudging the number of pilots it needed under the new FDTL rules.

IndiGo's countrywide flight cancelations triggered chaos and panic across India, with hundreds of passengers stranded at airports, many still waiting for refunds and baggage. Airfares skyrocketed, prompting the government to invoke regulatory powers and announce the capping of fares to control the rising airline ticket prices.

The government has ordered an investigation into IndiGo's "mismanagement" and said a committee has been constituted to determine responsibility for the collapse.

xinhua