IndiGo ropes in external aviation experts to probe flight disruptions

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IndiGo on Friday announced that its board has approved the appointment of Chief Aviation Advisors LLC, led by veteran aviation expert Captain John Illson, to conduct an independent expert review and assessment of the recent operational disruption and the contributing factors.

“The objective is to conduct an independent root cause analysis of the recent operational disruption, besides opportunities for improvement,” the low-cost carrier said in a statement.

According to the statement, the independent aviation expert will start the review at the earliest and submit a comprehensive report to the board.

“This decision follows the recommendation of the Crisis Management Group (CMG) constituted by the IndiGo Board. As part of its assessment, the CMG advised commissioning an independent expert review in the matter,” it said.

The development comes after mass flight cancellations by IndiGo threw the nation’s aviation sector out of gear over the last few days.

IndiGo cited regulatory changes in the pilots' flight duty and regulations norms as reason for the crisis.

The new FDTL norms, which entail increased weekly rest periods to 48 hours, extended night hours, and limiting the number of night landings to only two, as against six earlier, were initially opposed by domestic airlines, including IndiGo and Tata Group-owned Air India.

But they were subsequently rolled out by the DGCA following the Delhi High Court's directives, albeit with a delay of over one year, in a phased manner, and with certain variations for airlines like IndiGo and Air India.

The Centre later relaxed some of the norms as the IndiGo crisis spiralled out of control.