Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu blamed IndiGo’s internal lapses for the nationwide flight disruptions that left passengers stranded across multiple cities for a week.

At an event organised by India Today, Naidu said the cancellations on December 3 and 4 were a direct consequence of IndiGo’s failure to manage crew deployment under the newly implemented Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.

“The crisis was a result of gross mismanagement by IndiGo. There was some anomaly with their internal crew rostering system, which could have been avoided in compliance with the new norms under the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) guidelines, which unfortunately did not happen,” the minister said. “This is the reason why we saw the domino effect of flight cancellations on December 3 and 4.”

He made it clear that responsibility lay entirely with the airline. “This is the problem at IndiGo's end and their management,” he said.

Naidu said that the government and DGCA had been closely tracking cancellations throughout November after the new fatigue rules took effect.

“The new FDTL norms became applicable on November 1. We had been in constant touch with the airline over the few usual cancellations. For the next few days, there was a phase when there were no cancellations at all,” the minister said, rejecting claims that the regulator had ignored warning signs.

He also revealed that the ministry had held a meeting with IndiGo on December 1. “They never mentioned that they had any issue at all,” he said.

“We were quite watchful and were taking care of all the operational oversight, and ensuring that things were normal. We also gave them multiple opportunities to come to us and discuss,” Naidu said.

At the same time, Naidu underlined the limits of regulatory intervention.

The ministry, he said, cannot monitor internal workflows within private airlines.

Reacting to the image of IndiGo chief Vikram Singh Mehta appearing to apologise before him, Naidu said: “He folded his hands, he was apologising not only to me but to the people of the country who faced difficulty.”

Naidu insisted that the new FDTL norms were drafted with pilot well-being and passenger safety in mind.

“Pilot safety is definitely a major issue. We have introduced the new FDTL, are assessing the fatigue situation, and have implemented the necessary guidelines,” he said.

He questioned why IndiGo alone failed to adapt when “every other airline is complying with the new norms and IndiGo also said they were fine with it.”

“Even then, if you want us to look into their everyday functioning and operations, then there is no point in having their senior management of anyone at IndiGo,” he said, expressing visible displeasure at the situation.

Naidu said this breakdown should not have occurred and assured that accountability will follow. “I am the minister responsible for the aviation sector, and it is my duty to ensure this does not happen again,” he added.