MC Explains| Why were IndiGo's flights delayed on July 2 and July 3?

IndiGo Airlines.

InterGlobe Aviation-owned IndiGo witnessed delays in its flights across the country on July 2 and July 3, with more than 56 percent of the airline's flights reporting delays on Saturday, July 2.

According to data by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, IndiGo which operates nearly 1,600 flights daily, was able to operate only 44 percent of its flights within 15 minutes of scheduled departure time, which counts as on-time according to the DGCA, on Saturday.

The airline reported its worst On-Time Performance (OTP) in the last two days, mainly due to employees taking last-minute leave on the same days, which caused a number of IndiGo flights from Delhi to get delayed.

The low-cost carrier uses its aircraft for multiple flights on the same day and also schedules flights based on the landing time of its plane across India.

"Most of our (IndiGo) planes fly three to four times in a day, for roughly around 14 hours," a senior official from IndiGo said.

He added that most delays in flights happened as a result of a cascading effect due to delays in flights taking off from Delhi, where IndiGo’s cabin crew took leave at the last minute. The A320 aircraft operated by IndiGo requires at least four cabin crew members for a flight.

Airline officials said that most of IndiGo's employees who took leave on Saturday appeared for the walk-in interviews for hiring cabin crew by Air India and Air India Express.

"We will conduct an internal survey to determine whether employees had taken leaves to attend interviews with other airlines and necessary disciplinary action will be considered," the official from IndiGo said.

He added that IndiGo's employees that had been scheduled to fly on July 2 and July 3 and had taken last-minute leaves will be asked for valid reasons to take last-minute leaves as well.

Crew members are allowed to report sick till five hours before the departure of a flight.

In the past, employees of IndiGo have expressed discontent due to the airline not restoring the salaries of its employees since the pandemic.

On April 4, IndiGo suspended a few pilots who were planning to organise a strike to protest against pay cuts.

IndiGo CEO Ronjoy Dutta on April 8 told employees through an email that raising salaries was a difficult and thorny issue but the airline would constantly review and adjust wages based on its profitability and the competitive environment.

The fall in IndiGo's performance has also prompted India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to look into the matter.

Such incidents are only expected to rise in India in the coming few months with Air India, Akasa Air, and Jet Airways all looking to hire pilots and cabin crew for their operations.

Air India had conducted a similar crew recruitment drive last month as well but did not find enough recruits, according to sources, which led to the airline recalling some of the cabin crew members it laid off in 2020.