Indian carrier IndiGo’s parent, InterGlobe Aviation, has blamed a combination of internal and external events for the airline’s recent widespread disruption, but insists that the situation was not the result of deliberate actions.
The chair of InterGlobe Aviation, the airline’s parent, Vikram Singh Mehta says the company sought to support chief executive Pieter Elbers as the carrier strived to deal with mass cancellations over 3-5 December.
Elbers has been summoned to testify this week before a committee of the Indian civil aviation regulator as it seeks to understand the matter.
Mehta states that an “unexpected chain of events” led to the cancellations, and acknowledges that thousands of passengers were left stranded.
The operation has been stabilised and IndiGo is carrying out over 1,900 daily flights across all 138 of its destinations.
“I know how much distress this [disruption] caused,” says Mehta. “We did not meet your expectations during those days. And for that, we are truly sorry.”
But he also defends the airline against certain criticisms, stating that the crisis was not “engineered” by IndiGo, and it did not attempt to influence government rules.
Specifically, he insists that IndiGo “has followed” flight-duty time limitation rules “as they came into effect” – adding that the airline operated under these rules in July and November.
“We did not attempt to bypass them,” he says. “Nor did we do anything that negatively impacted our unblemished track record of safety.”
But he also says that implementation of updated crew rostering rules, and operations under them, were part of the issue.
Mehta attributes the chaos to a “combination of internal and unanticipated external events” – among them “minor” technical glitches, schedule changes at the start of the winter season, adverse weather conditions, and congestion.
“Clearly this combination of events pushed our systems beyond their limits,” he says, but points out that the disruption was not the result of any “deliberate action”.
Mehta says crisis-management teams at the company have been focused on restoration of services, passenger support, transparent communication, and prevention steps.
He describes the disruption as a “blemish” on the airline’s record. “The company has erred. There is no denying this,” he says. “It has now to build back your trust. This will not be easy. It will depend on actions not words.”
