NEW DELHI: A “profusely apologetic” IndiGo has blamed a combination of five factors including the new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) rules and winter schedule-related changes for its massive flight disruptions, in its reply to the DGCA’s show cause notice submitted on Monday evening. The airline has said given the scale of its operations, it is “realistically not possible to pinpoint the exact cause(s)” in the time given by the notice that was issued last Saturday.It has pointed out the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) manual allows a 15-day response timeline to notices, thereby seeking more time to submit a comprehensive root cause analysis. “DGCA is in process of examining the response and enforcement action as deemed appropriate will be taken in due course,” the aviation ministry said in a statement regarding the responses of CEO Pieter Elbers and COO Isidre Porqueras, who is also the accountable manager, that were submitted at 6.01 pm Monday.

Given the massive outrage and public anger at aviation authorities, it remains to be seen if further time will be given to IndiGo. Aviation minister R M Naidu in Parliament spoke about taking “very, very strict action” against IndiGo that will set an example for other airlines. Naidu clearly said while other airlines were able to cope up with the new FDTL, IndiGo did not do so due to its “internal crisis.” Apart from hefty financial penalty, the top position/s that are approved by the DGCA including the airline’s accountable manager (who is the COO) may face action. The airline may also either seek resignations or sack some key people who are seen to be responsible for this mega mess.Also read: ‘Weather, roster rules’ – IndiGo lists 5 reasons for flight disruptions; what it told DGCAThe airlines has attributed the disruption to the “compounding effect of multiple factors which coincided in lesser or greater measure” in an “unfortunate and unforeseeable confluence.” These are: Minor technical glitches; schedule changes linked to the start of the winter season; adverse weather conditions increased congestion in the aviation system, andiImplementation of and operation under the updated crew rostering rules (FDTL phase II) that came into force on Nov 1, 2025.“IndiGo notes they had been engaging with the DGCA regarding challenges in implementing FDTL phase II and were seeking variations, exemptions, or extensions. The disruptions began in early December when the compounding factors resulted in a lower on-time network performance, which affected crew availability,” the ministry statement said.Also read: ‘Very, very strict action’ – Aviation minister vows to ‘set an example’ after IndiGo fiasco; what he said in Rajya SabhaIt termed the December 5 large-scale cancellations, when over 1,000 which is almost half of its daily schedule were affected, as a “drastic measure” of “rebooting” the network “to recover stranded customers, ease airport congestion, and reposition crew/aircraft.”