A senior airline official told PTI on Sunday that IndiGo will carry out a thorough “root cause study” of the widespread flight disruptions brought on by a variety of operational reasons. He stated that stabilizing services is the current priority, with complete normalization by December 10.
The official maintained that the airline had enough pilots, despite the fact that poor staff planning under the updated flight duty regulations has been identified as a primary cause of the disarray. He denied any deficit, saying, “Our pilot numbers are OK whereas we may not have the luxury of having a buffer.”
Additionally, he denied rumors of a hiring freeze, saying that IndiGo is still employing and that the present situation is not the result of its lean operating approach.
The situation is starting to improve after five days of frequent cancellations. Typically operating over 2,300 flights per day, IndiGo anticipates operating 1,650 flights on Sunday, up from 1,500 on Saturday.
According to the official, there were several factors that caused the disturbances. “We will require a root cause study… the interruptions occured due to a mix of causes and which element played how much part (would be revealed after the investigation),” he said, describing the incident as an important teaching moment.
Effective November 1, the second phase of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations has tightened cockpit availability across airlines by limiting the amount of night landings that pilots may perform. The official stated that other carriers “have a stronger buffer than IndiGo in terms of the number of pilots,” despite the fact that they had not experienced interruptions of this magnitude. “But that does not mean that there is a matter of deficiency, no,” he continued.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras have received show-cause letters from the DGCA in an attempt to get an explanation for the extensive operational faults.
The official stated, “We will undertake our root cause study,” when asked if the mayhem might have been prevented. and if there was a planning breach at all, we will learn what it was.
The airline voiced confidence in its readiness as the fog season draws near, stating that it has enough people and planes to handle winter interruptions.
