Senior expat official in IndiGo management may face action

NEW DELHI: The panel of eight flight operations inspectors (FOIs) created by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to oversee IndiGo operations till the same stabilise are learnt to have identified certain chinks in the airline’s armour.

An expat top management person (not CEO) is under the scanned and some regulatory action against him is likely. The operations control centre (OCC) has found to be a weak link. As of now, the airline is giving out two-day rosters to pilots. This means a pilot knows the flights he or she is supposed to fly next two days only.


“This two-day roster will continue till the collapsed OCC system is revived. The task has got tougher with low visibility setting in. Now it is not about finding pilots to operate flights but also ensuring pilots trained for low visibility operations are rostered for the early morning and late night flights in airports that will see fog, like Delhi, Amritsar and Lucknow,” said people in the know.

Upset FOIs: Apart from troubles with IndiGo, aviation authorities are facing another problem: The FOIs are upset at the recent removal of four of their colleagues from their position for allegedly not being able to prevent IndiGo’s fiasco. “FOIs feel they have been made the scapegoats. Some of them now want to quit their positions,” said sources.

The DGCA is still trying to prevent more hardships for passengers as low visibility has set it. Two IndiGo flights — Ahmedabad-Hindon & Hindon-Varanasi — have been cancelled. “It was better to have the flights cancelled so that passengers know in advance,” said sources.

Hindon flights cut: Even before these latest cuts, flights to and from Hindon Airport had been slashed by half this winter. While the IAF enclave used to handle 25 arrivals and as many departures in summer, the number has dropped to 12 arrivals and as many departures. Now two more IndiGo flights have been cancelled till February.

“Hindon has certain restrictions for commercial flights like the operations are from sunrise to sunset and there are two parking bays for them. The reduced visibility has made the operation window even shorter. IndiGo has cancelled two flights,” said an airport official.

Asaka's ambition: After Air India, Akasa has also asked the government how long will IndiGo capacity cuts continue so that it can decide on operating some extra flights in the second half of January by when the 31st aircraft it has inducted in its fleet will start flying. The aviation ministry is expected to finalise IndiGo cuts and duration of the same early this week. Air India has offered to explore operating 275 extra flights this month.

The 30 Boeing 737s Akasa has in its fleet are being fully utilised. The airlines recently got its 31st aircraft which will start flying next month. The airline is learnt to be able to operate this to partially fill in the void created by IndiGo’s route cuts only in the second fortnight of Jan, and not Feb. “IndiGo flight cut void can at best be filled partially and that too temporarily. AI, AI Express & Akasa resources are nearly fully deployed. AI may have 275 additional flights this month. The best thing will be to have IndiGo back on its feet as soon as possible,” said an official.


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