Claims by IndiGo that it has put its house in order after last month’s operational collapse—which left over 300,000 passengers stranded following mass flight cancellations—need close and independent verification by the regulator.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which must accept its share of responsibility for the episode, now has a duty to ensure that the airline has adequate pilots to sustain its operations while fully complying with flight duty time limitation (FDTL) norms. So far, the response has been underwhelming.

The penalty of Rs 22.2 crore imposed for the cancellation of 2,507 flights and delays to another 1,852 between December 3 and 5 is modest relative to the scale of disruption. More inexplicably, the findings of the enquiry committee are yet to be made public.

Unless these are disclosed and followed by firmer action, the perception that the regulator is being unduly lenient towards the airline will only grow.

The DGCA has identified inadequate regulatory preparedness, poor........

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