India, Jan. 8 -- The year 2025 will be remembered as one of the darkest chapters for Indian civil aviation. The fatal Air India accident on one hand and IndiGo's Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) crisis on the other have together dented India's hard-earned reputation in global aviation. At the heart of this slide lies not just corporate misjudgment, but a troubling pattern of delayed, diluted and selectively tough enforcement by the Government and the regulator.

The slow, half-hearted response to the FDTL fiasco handed IndiGo extra time, narrative control and negotiating space it did not deserve, while sending a wider signal to the market that proximity and influence can soften even the gravest of violations.

The new FDTL framework no...