IndiGo board to hire external specialist to trace root cause of disruption

IndiGo chairman Vikram Singh Mehta dismissed allegations that IndiGo engineered the crisis, tried to influence the government's flight duty time limitation (FDTL) rules

The board of directors at IndiGo, formally known as InterGlobe Aviation, will involve an external technical expert to work with the airline’s management and help determine the root causes and ensure corrective action so that such a disruption never occurs again, Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta said on Wednesday.

 

He dismissed allegations that IndiGo engineered the crisis, tried to influence the government’s flight duty time limitation (FDTL) rules, compromised safety, or that the airline’s board was not involved. “These claims are incorrect,” Mehta said in a video message on Wednesday evening.

 

IndiGo had been operating about 2,300 daily flights — roughly 2,000 domestic and 300 international — until the beginning of this month, when it plunged into an operational meltdown after failing to manage its pilot duty roster under the new FDTL rules that came into effect last month. The airline cancelled a total of 4,290 flights between December 1 and December 9.

 

 

Mehta said, “IndiGo has followed the pilot fatigue (FDTL) rules as they came into effect. We operated under the new rules throughout… both in July and November. We did not attempt to bypass them. Nor did we do anything that negatively impacted our unblemished track record of safety.”

 

“The disruptions of last week did not happen because of any deliberate action. They happened because of a combination of internal and unanticipated external events including minor technical glitches, schedule changes linked to the start of the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system, and implementation of/operation under the updated crew rostering rules. This is not an excuse. This is simply the truth. Clearly, this combination of events pushed our systems beyond their limits,” he added.

 

Mehta said he had been urged to make a statement for the last several days but chose to wait because the board felt its first duty was to support IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers and his team, restore operations, and help passengers who were affected. “Pieter has already announced that operations are now stable,” he observed.

 

He said: “On December 3, an unexpected chain of events led to large-scale flight cancellations. This continued on December 4 and 5... I know how much distress this has caused. I want to say, very simply and very clearly, we are sorry.”

 

“We assure you that we will examine every aspect of what went wrong and we will learn from it. The board has decided it will involve an external technical expert to work with the management and help determine the root causes and ensure corrective action so that this level of disruption never occurs again,” Mehta added.

 

Addressing the claim that the board was not engaged with this crisis, he said: “This is not correct. The board has been closely involved with this matter for many months. Both the board and the risk management committee have received relevant information from the management on the implementation of the rules.”

 

He said last week’s events are a “blemish” on the airline’s “pristine, clean” record, adding: “The company has erred. There is no denying this. It now has to rebuild your trust. This will not be easy. It will depend on actions, not words. It will be a journey.”