ISTANBUL
India's IndiGo airline on Monday canceled 562 flights of its 2,300 daily flights from six metro airports, as a panel is investigating the disruptions, according to the Press Trust of India.
The airline has been cancelling hundreds of flights since last Tuesday.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation-appointed panel probing IndiGo’s flight disruptions is likely to summon CEO Pieter Elbers and Chief Operating Officer Isidre Porqueras on Wednesday, the media outlet reported, citing a source.
The four-member panel has been tasked with uncovering the causes of the operational disruptions, including reviewing manpower planning, the fluctuating rostering system, and the airline’s readiness to implement the latest pilot duty and rest norms.
India's latest flight duty time limitation norms, whose second phase came into effect on Nov. 1, include increasing weekly rest periods to 48 hours, extending night hours, and limiting the number of night landings to only two, down from six previously.
India's aviation regulator on Friday withdrew the new crew rostering norms and granted the airline a one-time exemption from pilot night duty rules until Feb. 10 to resolve the issue, according to the India Today.
Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu told the Upper House on Monday that the airline crisis stemmed from problems in the airline's "crew-rostering and internal planning" systems, adding that the issue was operational and not caused by any regulatory changes.