The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the country's civil aviation regulator, had asked India's largest airline operator, IndiGo, to dismiss a senior vice president and issue warnings to six senior executives, including the company's chief operating officer (COO), over the flight chaos in December 2025, the government told the Delhi High Court on Thursday, 22 January.
The government's submission came during the hearing of a public interest litigation seeking a judicial inquiry into the IndiGo flight chaos, which resulted in mass flight cancellations, passenger compensation, and additional ground support to assist stranded passengers in December 2025.
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma represented the civil aviation ministry and the DGCA, and the bench comprised Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia in the IndiGo case.
The Delhi High Court is scheduled to hear the matter next on 25 February.
5 things DGCA told Delhi High Court
1. Cause of crisis: Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma told the Delhi High Court that a four-member committee inquiry found that the IndiGo crisis was caused due to “over-optimisation of operations, inadequate regulatory preparedness, along with deficiencies in system software support and shortcomings in management structure”.
The law officer also said that the DGCA had imposed a penalty of ₹22.2 crore on the airline for the meltdown in December 2025.
2. Dismissal & warnings: The DGCA's lawyer also said that the regulator had issued warnings to six senior executives, including IndiGo's COO, Isidre Porqueras Orea.
3. ₹50 crore deposit: Chetan Sharma said that the DGCA has also asked IndiGo to deposit ₹50 crore as bank guarantees, which are to be refunded as and when the airline operator implements the necessary corrections in its operations.
4. Impact on passengers: According to a PTI report, between 3 and 5 December 2025, the DGCA said IndiGo recorded 2,507 flight cancellations and 1,852 flight delays, impacting more than 3 lakh passengers at airports across India.
Mint reported earlier how IndiGo cancelled hundreds of flights across India as the airline was not prepared for the central government's revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDLT) norms.
5. Travel vouchers: The DGCA also said that IndiGo was offering ₹10,000 as a travel voucher to the passengers who were stranded due to the massive disruption in the airline's operations, which would expire in some time, according to the agency report.
The Delhi High Court asked IndiGo's counsel to clarify what would happen to the voucher if an individual was unable to utilise it within the prescribed time frame.
The news agency's report also highlighted that IndiGo's legal counsel acknowledged taking the instructions. “Please file an affidavit,” said the high court bench.
What did Pieter Elbers say?
During IndiGo's quarterly earnings call on 22 January 2026, CEO Pieter Elbers said the company witnessed major operational disruptions that resulted in significant flight cancellations and delays from 3 to 5 December 2025.
“This quarter, the company faced major operational disruptions that resulted in significant flight cancellations and delays from 3rd to 5th December. We deeply regret the inconvenience faced by our customers and express our heartfelt gratitude for their patience and trust,” the executive said.
Pieter Elbers also said that the company has strong fundamentals and is backed by the expanding fleet and growing domestic and international network. The airline looks forward to providing reliability, operational excellence and enhanced customer experience.
IndiGo reported a 77.55% YoY drop in its consolidated profit at ₹549.8 crore for the December quarter of the financial year 2025-26, compared to ₹2,448.8 crore in the same quarter of the previous financial year, according to its latest BSE filing.