IndiGo carrying out in-depth review of its internal processes, says CEO

IndiGo is carrying out an in-depth review of the robustness and resilience of its internal processes, the airline's CEO Pieter Elbers said on Thursday, against the backdrop of the massive operational disruptions last month.

The country's largest airline, on Thursday, posted a 78 per cent decline in profit at ₹549.1 crore in the three months ended December on account of higher expenses, including ₹577 crore financial impact due to the disruptions.

During a call with mediapersons post announcement of the December quarter results, Elbers said an in-depth review of the robustness and resilience of internal processes is on the way, and efforts are being made to ensure continuity and stability in operations.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has curtailed the airline's winter schedule by 10 per cent, and now, the civil aviation ministry has asked other carriers to submit their requests for the slots vacated by IndiGo.

Referring to the disruptions, Elbers said that when it comes to having a proper evaluation on what happened, there are many factors which have come into play.

"... clearly, we are identifying what are these factors, to what extent have they contributed, and how to address these going forward. So this is an ongoing process for which, of course, we'll take learnings and mitigate going forward where possible," the CEO said.

The airline has already initiated a root cause analysis to understand about the factors that led to the massive disruptions.

Between December 3 and 5 last year, IndiGo cancelled 2,507 flights and 1,852 flights were delayed, impacting over 3 lakh passengers at airports across the country. Following a probe, the watchdog has also slapped fines totalling ₹22.20 crore on IndiGo.

According to Elbers, the board and the management of IndiGo are committed to taking full cognisance of the DGCA orders and will, in a thoughtful and timely manner, take the appropriate measures.

The operations of IndiGo have stabilised, and the airline has told DGCA that it has an adequate number of pilots to ensure compliance with the new flight duty norms without disruptions.

On January 20, DGCA said the disruptions stemmed from mismanagement of adequate flight crew, inadequate regulatory preparedness at the operator level, and shortcomings in system software support, management structure, and operational control.

"The airline's planning processes did not adequately identify operational deficiencies or maintain sufficient operational buffers. There was an overriding focus on maximising utilisation of crew, aircraft, and network resources, which led to reduced roster buffer margins.

"Crew rosters were designed to operate at the limits of permissible duty periods, with increased reliance on dead-heading, tail swaps, extended duty patterns, and minimal recovery margins. This approach compromised roster integrity and operational resilience and adversely impacted the effective implementation of the revised FDTL provisions," the regulator had said in a statement.

DGCA had also said that sustained regulatory oversight, as well as corrective measures, have helped stabilise operations at IndiGo.