Senior officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have been sent to 11 domestic airports for immediate checks on IndiGo’s operations as flight cancellations and delays continue to unsettle thousands of passengers across the country.

An internal order issued on Wednesday asked officers to conduct on-site inspections over the next two to three days at airports in Nagpur, Jaipur, Bhopal, Surat, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Shirdi, Cochin, Lucknow, Amritsar and Dehradun.

“All assigned officers will visit their respective airports within the next 2-3 days,” the order said, directing them to submit a report to the director of operations within 24 hours of completing their inspection.

The DGCA’s move comes amid growing concerns from passengers and rising scrutiny from the government.

Cancellations that began earlier this month, triggered by the enforcement of new crew rostering rules, have snowballed into one of the biggest disruptions the airline has faced.

The government has already put the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms on hold to allow airlines more time.

The regulator said the purpose of these inspections is to assess “safety, operational preparedness, passenger facilitation measures, and airline responsiveness during the ongoing disruption.”

Officials will review flight delays and cancellations, congestion at terminals, queue management at check-in counters, security and boarding gates, and the availability of airline and airport staff.

They have also been asked to check if help desks are manned round the clock and whether information on delays, cancellations and alternate arrangements is being communicated properly.

The DGCA order underlined the need for additional checks on support services for senior citizens, children, pregnant women and “dedicated help desks manned by IndiGo staff.”

The inspections follow an earlier announcement from the DGCA setting up an oversight team of eight senior officers, with two members to be stationed at IndiGo’s corporate office.

Their brief is to monitor cancellations, refunds, on-time performance, compensation and baggage return.

The issue has now moved to the courts as well. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday questioned the central government for allowing the problem to reach this stage.

It asked why timely steps were not taken despite “lakhs of passengers” being stranded and airfares on other airlines soaring.

The bench observed that beyond inconvenience and harassment, the cancellations raised concerns over economic impact.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by advocates Akhil Rana and Utkarsh Sharma seeking a judicial inquiry into the crisis and compensation for affected passengers.

“In view of passenger inconvenience caused due to large-scale disruptions in the operations of IndiGo Airlines at various airports across the country, it has been decided that DGCA officers shall carry out immediate on-site inspections at the 11 airports,” the DGCA said in its order.

IndiGo has now submitted its revised winter schedule to the regulator after the government ordered a 10 per cent reduction in its operations.

The airline, which has been under DGCA’s scrutiny over crew shortages since the start of the month, was asked to file its revised plan by 5 PM on Wednesday.

“IndiGo has submitted the revised winter schedule to the DGCA as per its Tuesday order,” a source said, reported PTI.

IndiGo, which controls over half of India’s domestic aviation market, has been struggling with a severe crew shortage that left thousands of travellers stuck at airports.