IndiGo Flight Cancellations Crisis: Focus On Restoring Operations Quickly, Says Airline

IndiGo’s Board of Directors has formed a Crisis Management Group to address the ongoing flight cancellations and delays that have disrupted travel plans across the country. The decision was taken after an emergency board meeting on the first day of the crisis, where members were briefed on the scale and impact of the situation, the company said in a press release on Sunday.

"This meeting was followed up with a session confined to only Board members at which, it was decided to set up a Crisis Management Group (CMG) comprising amongst others the Chairman, Vikram Singh Mehta; Board Directors, Gregg Saretsky, Mike Whitaker and Amitabh Kant, and the CEO Pieter Elbers," said the airline.

It added that, "this Group has been meeting regularly to monitor the situation and is being constantly updated by the Management of the measures being undertaken to restore normal operations. In addition, there have been multiple telephonic discussions, including with Directors who are not members of the CMG. The objective of these meetings and exchanges is to address, as quickly as practically possible, the hardships suffered by our customers and other stakeholders while also restoring operational integrity across the airline’s network expeditiously."

The budget carried came under heat after hundreds of its flights were cancelled in the past days leaving thousands of passengers stranded. The crisis erupted after the carrier failed to comply with the latest norms.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s aviation sector regulator, rolled out the second and final phase of the new Flight Duty Time Limitations norms in November. The first phase came into effect in July after a delay of nearly a year. 

In November the Directorate General of Civil Aviation rolled out revised rules which were meant to improve crew safety and rest hours, allowing increased weekly rest periods and changes in night duty norms.

It turned out that IndiGo, which commands 60% of India’s domestic aviation segment, was ill-prepared for the adoption of the new norms. Its massive scale of operations ended up posing a challenge to comply with the new norms at its existing crew strength.