Moody’s Investors Service has termed IndiGo’s failure to effectively prepare for India’s revised flight duty time regulations as credit negative, despite the airline receiving a temporary exemption from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The disruption — triggered by Phase 2 of the DGCA's new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms that took effect on November 1 — led to over 1,600 flight cancellations on December 5 alone and pushed IndiGo’s on-time performance down to 68% in November, from 84% in October. Moody’s said the regulations, aimed at enhancing pilot safety, had been public for over a year, but IndiGo failed to adequately prepare for the shift. Advertisement

The agency noted that while IndiGo's lean operations offer cost advantages during stable periods, they l

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