Not An Easy Task: IndiGo CEO Vows To Get Flights Back On Track Amid Crew Crunch Chaos — Profit Exclusive
Over 1,200 IndiGo flights were cancelled in November, largely due to the constraints resulting from the new rostering norms
IndiGo's chief executive officer Pieter Elbers has addressed employees via an internal email, setting the airline's immediate and challenging objective as normalising operations and urgently bringing flight punctuality "back on track in the coming days."
In the email, exclusively reviewed by NDTV Profit, Elbers acknowledged that the past few days have been "difficult for many of our IndiGo customers and colleagues," and issued a public apology for the airline’s failure to deliver on its service promise.
The internal communication follows an unprecedented third day of operational disruptions that impacted hundreds of passengers, primarily linked to cabin crew shortages and the recent implementation of new Flight Duty-Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
The CEO detailed that the scale of the crisis was a result of an interplay of factors, explaining that given the network’s "size, scale and complexity," these disruptions "grow large immediately and require interventions on multiple levels and dimensions."
Elbers attributed the poor performance to "an accumulation of several operational challenges, minor technology glitches, schedule changes, [and] adverse weather conditions."
Notably, over 1,200 IndiGo flights were cancelled in November, largely due to the constraints resulting from the new rostering norms. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is looking into the issue, and sought an explanation from the airline.
Elbers, in his email, noted that the situation was compounded negatively by "heightened congestion in the aviation ecosystem" and the compliance requirements of the newly released FDTL norms.
The bulk of flight cancellations, which triggered the crisis, were directly linked to crew and FDTL-related constraints, while other grounding factors included airport or airspace restrictions and, in some cases, air traffic control system failures.
This operational instability comes as the airline has been summoned by the DGCA to explain the ongoing disruptions and present a detailed mitigation plan.
The CEO stated, "We are feeling our customers' concern and anxieties just as deeply." He assured staff that the airline is "proactively reaching out to affected customers and helping them in every way possible to ease their discomfort."
"We have faced tough moments before, but we turned challenges into triumphs, proving our resilience, strength, and unity. This moment will be no different... I am confident we all can deal with this challenge too. Together, as one team, we will overcome this challenge and emerge even stronger," he noted.
