The government's main air safety team has suspended four senior officers this week. These important officials are called Flight Operation Inspectors, or FIOs. Their job is to check pilot training and make sure airlines follow all safety rules. The main reason for their suspension is the huge number of IndiGo flights cancelled recently. These cancellations caused chaos and left many people stuck at airports across the nation. This strong action shows how serious the air travel safety problems have become for everyone.

The flight trouble began because IndiGo did not properly follow rules that limit how long pilots can work. These strict work limits are called Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL). The airline was supposed to bring in the newest phase of these rules in November, but it failed to do so. The government blamed the cancellations on the airline's poor planning of its crew duty lists, calling it mismanagement. The suspended inspectors were directly responsible for checking that IndiGo was following these key operational and safety requirements.

The widespread disruptions have led to strict steps against the country’s biggest airline. On a single day last week, over 1,600 IndiGo flights were suddenly cancelled. Nearly 5,000 flights have been stopped in total since the start of the crisis. To help fix the issue, the safety regulator has ordered IndiGo to cut its daily flight operations by 10 per cent. The company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was also called to meet with the aviation body to explain the situation.