Indigo cancellations: Airline to conduct 'root cause analysyis'; official says disruptions stemmed from multiple factors

NEW DELHI: IndiGo will carry out a “root cause analysis” to determine what triggered the large-scale flight disruptions over the past week, a senior airline official said Sunday.

India’s largest carrier has been cancelling hundreds of flights amid operational breakdowns linked to new pilot duty norms and planning gaps.


The airline, which normally operates around 2,300 flights daily, expects to fly 1,650 services on Sunday — an improvement from 1,500 flights a day earlier. The official said operations are gradually stabilising and “full stability in operations is expected by December 10”.

The official, as quoted by PTI, maintained that IndiGo has enough pilots and rejected concerns of shortages. “Our pilot numbers are fine while we may not have the luxury of having a buffer,” he said, adding that there is “no hiring freeze” and denying that a lean model triggered the crisis.

He emphasised that the disruptions stemmed from several simultaneous issues. “We will need a root cause analysis, which will obviously take time... the disruptions happened due to a combination of factors and which factor played how much role (will be known after the root cause analysis),” he said. The official also described the episode as a “learning experience”, insisting “there was no question of inadequacy”.

IndiGo has been struggling since November 1 when the second phase of the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms — which reduce the number of night landings allowed — came into effect. While all airlines transitioned to the new norms, IndiGo faced the sharpest impact, partly due to having a smaller pilot buffer. "We did not have the same kind of buffer. But that does not mean that there is a question of inadequacy, no. These are two different things," the official said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued show-cause notices to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras, seeking explanations for the disruptions. Asked whether the meltdown could have been prevented, the official said, "We will do our root cause analysis... we will do that and then we will come to know (what was the) planning lapse, if at all," as quoted by PTI.

Looking ahead, IndiGo maintained it is ready for the fog season. The official said the airline has adequate number of aircraft and pilots and is “confident of managing the fog season.”
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