Chennai: Launching a fierce critique of the Centre, the Congress on Saturday charged that the massive disruption in IndiGo’s operations was not an unforeseen crisis but the direct outcome of the NDA government’s long-term push to create a duopoly in India’s aviation sector.

Congress MP from Tamil Nadu, Sasikanth Senthil, said in a statement that the cancellation of over 1,000 IndiGo flights on Friday, followed by hundreds more on Saturday, had brought the nation’s air travel network to a “historic collapse.” He argued that the chaos had exposed vulnerabilities the Centre had repeatedly overlooked.

“This crisis is not a natural failure—it is the predictable result of a government determined to crush competition, reward favourites, and reshape an entire national industry for the benefit of a tiny corporate circle,” the former bureaucrat asserted.

Senthil claimed that aviation, a sector requiring stringent safety oversight, had been destabilised by policies that eased regulatory scrutiny while amplifying the influence of a few private players. He criticised the Centre’s approach to aviation safety, pointing to the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules released on January 8, 2024 and partially enforced from July 1, 2025. He condemned the decision to suspend these rules amid an industry-wide crisis.

“Suspending fatigue-prevention measures for pilots in the middle of turmoil is not just irresponsible—it is alarming.