NEW DELHI: A month after an operational breakdown that led to mass flight cancellations, IndiGo, India’s largest airline, has decided to increase pilot allowances across duty types. The changes will take effect from 1 January 2026.
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, IndiGo’s parent company, has revised pilot allowances for domestic layovers, deadhead flights, overnight duties, and domestic transit, according to a document seen by TNIE.
Captains’ domestic layover allowance has risen from ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 per 10–24 hours, while First Officers’ allowance has increased from ₹1,000 to ₹1,500. Deadhead allowances for scheduled blocks have been revised from ₹3,000 (Captains) and ₹1,500 (First Officers) to ₹4,000 and ₹2,000, respectively.
Deadhead allowance is compensation paid to pilots when they travel as passengers to reach a work location or return home. Although they are not operating the flight, they are positioning themselves for duty.
Night allowances have shifted from a 1.5x multiplier on block hours to a fixed ₹2,000 per night hour for Captains and ₹1,000 for First Officers. Night allowance is additional pay for flight duties performed after midnight to compensate for physiological strain.
IndiGo has also introduced a tail-swap allowance for the first time, ₹1,500 for Captains and ₹750 for First Officers when aircraft changes exceed 90 minutes. This applies to all operating and deadhead sectors, addressing operational disruptions such as frequent aircraft swaps. Tail-swap allowance compensates pilots for the extra workload involved in switching aircraft (“changing tails”) during a single duty period.
Transit allowance for IndiGo pilots is now an hourly payment applicable for domestic halts exceeding 90 minutes, compensating for idle time at the airport before operating the next flight sector.
The revisions come after IndiGo cancelled more than 5,000 flights earlier this month due to severe crew shortages, especially pilots, following revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms introduced last month. The cancellations left thousands of passengers stranded at airports across India.
New regulations by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) mandated longer crew rest (48 hours per week) and fewer night landings. However, IndiGo failed to hire sufficient staff, leaving them short of legally available crew for their extensive schedule, causing operational chaos.