NEW DELHI: The penalty of Rs 22.2 crore levied on India’s largest domestic airline, IndiGo, by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the massive flight disruptions in December 2025 has not gone down well with the country’s leading pilot association as well as the public.
While the aviation regulator defended its decision, saying it was the highest penalty it has ever levied on any airline, top officials confided that it was indeed a paltry sum.
The inquiry panel by DGCA made public its report on Saturday.
President of the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) Captain C S Randhawa told TNIE, “The DGCA should have taken stringent action against IndiGo and made an example of it for other airlines so that none of them cause such inconvenience to the public in the future. Instead, they have been so lenient with it.”
The sum of Rs 22.2 crore is too little for IndiGo, he observed.
Recalling the instance of Southwest Airlines, Captain Randhawa said the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) had in December 2023 levied a fine of 140 million US dollars (11,620 crore rupees as per market rate that year) against the airline after it ruined the travel plans of 20 lakh passengers during the Christmas and New Year period in 2022.
“Most of the sum was directed towards consumer compensation,” he pointed out.
The penalty was in addition to the USD 600 million it had paid as refunds and compensation to its passengers, reveal reports published then.
Hitting out at other glaring aspects in the committee report, the former pilot said, “Firstly, the days for which the penalty has been levied needs to be up to December 15 as disruptions were not just for the three days from December 3 to 5.
“Nearly 7 lakh people have been affected. A penalty of Rs 30 lakh per day levied for 68 days is nothing when you compare the chaos caused by it. How can the violation of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), which directly impacts safety, be penalised like this? How can a price tag like this be put on the lives of passengers?” he rhetorically posed.
No serious action has been taken against the individuals directly responsible for it, he pointed out.
“The Accounting Manager (COO) of Indigo and their CEO have been left off with a warning. A warning is the punishment DGCA gives for the mildest of mistakes. Again, there has been no action mentioned against the officers in the DGCA who okayed the winter schedule for the airlines,” he said.
Agreeing with it is aviation professional Sanjay Lazar.
He posted on X: “The concern for me is that no one in the DGCA was held liable for all these lapses, and that is a very worrying situation – that the regulator found faults with everyone else but itself. A judge (DGCA) like Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion and reproach.”
A senior aviation professional, requesting anonymity, conceded it was a “paltry sum.” He added, “At least a sum of Rs 200 crore should have been imposed.”
Defence analyst and writer, Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, posted on X: “IndiGo earnings over that period? Easily 400 – 500 crores. The fine? 22 crores. Actual criminals – slap on the wrists... but no hesitation in obscene retrospective taxation that could bankrupt.”
Chairman of Aarin Capital, Mohandas Pai, tagged Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu and posted on X: “Listen to your voters. Do not betray their faith in you. You should not be compromised. The sheer scale of the massive disruption and defiance of law deserves a punitive penalty, not this joke of Rs 22 crore.”
When pointed out the fine was a paltry sum, a senior DGCA official said, “This is the maximum fine we can impose as per the DGCA regulations. This is the highest penalty we have levied on any airline for causing disruptions. The fines have not gone beyond Rs 1 crore in the past.”