IndiGo to hire external experts to investigate mass flight cancellations

Since last week, IndiGo has cancelled thousands of flights nationwide after failing to plan for tighter safety regulations

IndiGo is set to hire external technical experts to investigate the primary reason behind the mass-flight cancellations last week that disrupted India’s aviation market, the airline’s chairman Vikram Singh Mehta said in a statement on December 10.

“We assure you that we will examine every aspect of what went wrong and we will learn from it… so that this level of disruption never occurs again,” Mehta said.

The chairman also apologized unconditionally to the passengers for massive operational meltdown, admitting that the carrier has “let the customers down”. Mehta said the airline will take corrective steps and undertake external technical review as the disruptions were a “blemish” on its record.

In addition, he clarified that the Gurgaon-headquartered airline did not engineer the crisis to force the government tweak the aviation rules, saying the claims are “incorrect”. Mehta also said there was no compromise on safety or lack of Board oversight.

He emphasised that IndiGo complied with updated pilot fatigue rules (FDTL) and operated under them in both July and November. “We did not attempt to bypass them,” he added.

Since last week, IndiGo has cancelled thousands of flights nationwide after failing to plan for tighter safety regulations. The cancellations peaked on December 5 and have declined since. The airline on Tuesday said its operations have stabilised and were back to normal levels.

However, nearly 220 flights were cancelled at three major airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, on Wednesday. Over the past week, there has been a lot of criticism, "some fair, some not," Mehta said.

"The fair criticism is that the airline let you down. We owe answers to our customers, to our government, to our shareholders and, equally importantly, to our employees. We assure you that we will examine every aspect of what went wrong and we will learn from it," he said.

Aviation regulator DGCA has decided to constitute an oversight team "in view of passenger inconvenience caused due to large-scale disruptions in the operations of IndiGo Airlines at various airports across the country".

It has also summoned IndiGo Chief Executive Pieter Elbers to appear at its office on Thursday and submit a complete report, along with comprehensive data and updates, relating to the recent operational disruptions, according to a statement.