You are watching the Indigo Crisis grind India’s aviation sector for the fifth straight day. Yesterday more than 1000 flights were cancelled, and today over 400 cancellations have already hit schedules. Numbers dropped slightly, but operations are still far from normal.
Airports remain chaotic. Passengers are stranded, sleeping on floors, facing refund delays, and paying higher fares on the few flights still active. Indigo holds 65 percent market share, yet it stepped into operational meltdown under the new DGCA Flight Duty Time Limitation rules, introduced to reduce pilot fatigue. The airline knew about the policy eighteen months earlier, but showed no readiness.
Many believe Indigo engineered the crisis to pressure the Government into delaying the rule. The Indian Government placed the FDTL regulation in abeyance to control the breakdown. The core issue traces back to how Indigo grew into a near-monopoly, now strong enough to influence policy. For that, the Government also shares responsibility.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu stands at the centre of criticism. You hear people say he failed to foresee the breakdown and softened safety rules under pressure. His TDP identity made him a visible target for national media and Opposition voices, which you can see across coverage and social platforms.
The Modi Government faces long-standing criticism for concentrating power with the Prime Minister and Amit Shah, leaving other ministers powerless. For this reason, Civil Aviation was viewed as a low-impact portfolio in 2014 and again now. In normal times, it rarely draws public attention.
Even so, Naidu cannot escape responsibility when the aviation sector collapses under his watch. It is also worrying that neither the ministry nor the Government sensed the crisis before it erupted. The call to hold the FDTL rule appears to be a higher-level decision.
Ram Mohan Naidu is young, and you expect him to respond with vision and firmness. If he settles for the position without driving change, then he must accept his share of blame.
