'Worst is behind us, focus on rebuilding': IndiGo CEO's message to staff

IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said the focus of the airline is now to solidify operations and to ensure that the operations are stable as the bad weather and IROPS season begin this week

IndiGo Airlines Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pieter Elbers has told the employees that the "worst is behind us", weeks after the budget carrier witnessed widespread flight cancellations and chaos across airports in the country.

 

In a video message, Elbers said the airline had restored 2,200 flights on Thursday, adding that the last two weeks were "very challenging". Thanking the IndiGo staff for their efforts, Elbers added that on December 9, he announced that the airline's operations had started stabilising.

 

Elbers urged the employees to now focus on three things: resilience, root cause analysis, and rebuilding. Elaborating further, he said the focus of the airline is now to solidify operations and to ensure that the operations are stable as the bad weather and IROPS (Irregular Operations) season begin this week.

 

 

 

"What we witnessed seems a compounding effect of several factors, and everyone wants answers," says Elbers as he states that the airline needs a full-scale analysis, for which an external aviation expert has been appointed by the Board to conduct a comprehensive Root Cause Analysis.

 

Elbers claimed that large airlines in several other parts of the world also witnessed similar disruptions. After the root cause analysis, the leadership team of IndiGo, including Elbers, will meet its employees to understand the challenges they faced during the widespread flight cancellations. 

 

He added that the root cause analysis and the inputs from the staff will help the airline "rebuild itself in a better way". "Let these three days (December 3-December 5) not define what we have collectively built over 19 years," the CEO said. 

 

IndiGo crisis

 

Earlier on December 13, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said that nearly 90 per cent of IndiGo's flight operations returned to normal after days of chaos. The airline had previously grounded thousands of flights across the country after being unprepared for stricter safety norms, which came into effect in November. The disruptions peaked on December 5 before gradually easing.

 

The airline had scrapped nearly 4,500 flights because of poor pilot roster planning and left tens of thousands of passengers stranded and frustrated, following which the aviation regulator decided to cut 10 per cent of its domestic winter schedule and reassigned the slots. IndiGo drew criticism for inadequate preparation for revised rest and duty requirements, which led to aircraft being grounded and travel plans being disrupted.

 

On December 10, the airline lowered its capacity and passenger unit revenue outlook for the third quarter after scaling back its winter schedule.