Aviation regulator DGCA has suspended four flight operation inspectors (FIOs) in response to the large-scale cancellations of IndiGo flights that left thousands of passengers stranded nationwide. The suspended officials were responsible for overseeing pilot training, airline safety, and operational compliance.

The action comes just before IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers is expected to appear before the regulator. For several days, IndiGo operations have been severely disrupted, with the worst impact recorded last Friday when over 1,600 flights were cancelled in a single day.

The cancellations have been widely linked to IndiGo’s inability to effectively implement the second phase of the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), which took effect in November. The government has also criticised the airline’s “mismanagement” and crew rostering issues.

As passenger travel plans continued to be affected, authorities introduced a series of measures, including setting a strict timeline for refunds and directing other airlines to control fare spikes. DGCA officials were stationed at IndiGo’s headquarters on Thursday to monitor operations closely, on a day when more than 200 flights were cancelled at Delhi and Bengaluru airports.

In light of the ongoing disruptions, the government has ordered IndiGo, India’s largest domestic airline, to reduce its daily flight operations by 10%.