India’s Major Domestic Carrier Arm Twists Govt, Surveillance App Revoked

Chaos unfolded across India between 2–6 Dec when thousands of IndiGo flights were canceled. IndiGo has about 65% of Indian air market share. At the airports in Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jammu, and Srinagar hundreds of passengers were left stranded. On 5 Dec, 22 flights were cancelled at Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport, Amritsar. Flight ticket prices from Chandigarh to major destinations skyrocketed as IndiGo operates the majority, around 55 arrivals and departures, daily. An Air India flight on the Chandigarh–Delhi route cost USD 177. On routine days, an IndiGo one-way ticket for the same sector usually ranges between USD 27–44. Pilots in IndiGo Airlines have questioned how the shortage of 65 captains and 59 co-pilots following the implementation of the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms could have triggered the cancellation and delays of thousands of flights. IndiGo operates around 2,200 flights a day. It has 2,357 captains on its rolls and 2,194 first officers. Hence, there are 4,551 pilots while the deficit is 124 pilots or 5%. When the new norms came into effect, it should have affected 5–7% of the flights, 110–150 flights at most. IndiGo succeeded in arm twisting the Indian government as it revoked the FDTL norms. Meanwhile, earlier this month, India’s Department Of Telecommunications (DoT) ordered all smartphone users to install the Sanchar Saathi cybersecurity application. The directive also instructed manufacturers to push the application to new devices. Opposition leaders, privacy advocates, and technology companies raised alarms that Sanchar Saathi was a potential snooping application. The government withdrew the notice only to launch a new SIM Binding directive which directed online messaging platforms to bar users from accessing their services without the SIM card used to register for the application. This direction could  impact companies like WhatsApp, and could pose challenges for users travelling abroad. The Broadband India Forum (BIF)—an industry group which has WhatsApp and Meta as members—spoke out against the directive. BIF’s statement said that while DoT’s order was ‘well-intentioned,’ it raised ‘significant questions of jurisdiction, proportionality, and consumer impact.’