New Delhi: Compensation worth Rs 163.92 crore has already been paid in the form of travel coupons to passengers affected by the mass cancellation of flights by IndiGo in early December, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday.Responding to supplementary questions during Question Hour, he said more than 3.6 lakh customers were affected by the incident and Rs 43.8 crore has been distributed so far as compensation after the ticket verification process. Nadu assured that the government is taking several necessary measures to ensure that such incidents do not happen again. Hundreds of flights operated by IndiGo were canceled in the first week of December due to shortage of pilots after the expiry of Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL). The government blamed the airline for lack of adequate planning in implementing the second phase of FDTL norms. This gave the airline a one-time exemption from implementing the norms. Responding to a specific question on the IndiGo crisis, the minister said the civil aviation ministry is consulting airlines on a daily basis before implementing the new norms. He said, “But even after this has happened, we are still taking more precautions so that such a situation does not happen again.”Saying that the ministry is engaged with the airline to ensure greater compensation to passengers, Nadu said the airline has also extended coupons or travel coupons worth Rs 10,000 as a gesture of care. “For this, Rs 163.9 crore has already been distributed to the passengers. And more, if they can verify their travel timings at that specific time,” Naidu said.Regarding the IndiGo incident, the minister said that DGCA is in constant touch with the airlines. “This was a typical example where the new FDTL norms came into force and it was the airlines that had to look at their internal operations and say if FDTL is going to be implemented, how many more pilots do we need and how will we route the crew rostering so that operations are not impacted,” Naidu said. Naidu said, “In these three months alone, IndiGo has appointed more than 246 pilots… We have also brought 10% operations to IndiGo. Therefore, several necessary measures have been taken so that such an incident does not happen again.”