DGCA is at fault for creating an airline that was ‘too big to fail’

I ndiGo’s cancellations and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s hasty dilution of newly tightened pilot-rest norms should be treated as a system-failure drill, not a one-off embarrassment. Within days of enforcing stricter Flight Duty Time Limitation rules, the regulator partially rolled them back and granted IndiGo special flexibility on weekly rest and night duties, after cancellations stranded passengers nationwide.

A single private carrier commanding just over 60 per cent of the domestic market could trigger a safety rollback. This tells the real story: India has allowed one airline to become “too big to fail” without building “too rigorous to bend” institutions around it.

This is the moment to ask not just how IndiGo misplanned its crew and schedules, but why policy