IndiGo Crisis: Governance, Pilot Shortage & Industry Structure Exposed

• IndiGo's crisis highlights deeper issues in governance, leadership communication, and the aviation industry's structure, beyond just operational glitches.
• Experts argue the oligopolistic nature of India's aviation market is unhealthy for customers and needs regulatory review of practices like anti-poaching and pilot hiring.
• IndiGo's leadership faced criticism for poor communication and lack of preparedness for flight duty time limitation (FDTL) rule changes despite a year's notice.
• New FDTL norms will increase pilot requirements, potentially raising IndiGo's employee costs by 9% and impacting capacity guidance due to pilot shortages.
• Analysts expect near-term earnings pressure and recommend investors avoid IndiGo stock due to rising costs and long-term structural challenges like pilot scarcity.

Why It Matters: IndiGo's crisis exposes deep structural flaws in India's aviation, impacting competition & costs.