IndiGo chairman dismisses allegations of ‘influencing government rules' amid crisis: ‘These are incorrect’
IndiGo chairman Vikram Singh Mehta said that there are some allegations surfacing amid the crisis that “are untrue”.
IndiGo chairman Vikram Singh Mehta said in a video statement on Wednesday dismissed the allegations surfacing amid the airline’s operational crisis, including that they “engineered the crisis” and “tried to influence government rules". This comes after IndiGo cancelled thousands of flights since Tuesday last week after its failure to adequately implement the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules.
The Centre has now directed IndiGo to cut its operations by 10 per cent. Notably, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers has also been summoned by the civil aviation ministry on Thursday to provide an update on the crisis.
Follow latest updates related to IndiGo flight cancellations here.
What did the IndiGo chairman say?
In the video statement, the company’s chairman said, “Over the past week, there has been a lot of criticism, some fair, some not.”
While referring to the “fair criticism”, he said that this includes the airline letting its customers down and being answerable to the passengers, government, shareholders, as well as the company’s employees.
However, he added that there are some allegations surfacing amid the crisis that “are untrue”. These include the allegation of the mass cancellation of flights being an “IndiGo-engineered crisis”, “influencing government rules” and “compromising safety”, he said.
“...there are some allegations that are untrue, that Indigo engineered the crisis, that we tried to influence government rules, that we compromised safety, that the board was not involved,” the company chairman said.
He added, “These claims are incorrect. Indigo has followed the pilot fatigue rules as they came into effect. We operated under the new rules throughout, both in July and in November.”
Mehta said that the disruptions were not due to any “deliberate action”. Instead, he blamed a combination of “internal and unanticipated external events, including minor technical glitches, scheduled changes linked to the start of the winter, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system and implementation of an operation under the updated crew rostering rules” for the crisis.
“There's also been a claim that the board was not engaged. This is not correct. The board has been closely involved with this matter for many, many months,” he further said.
Operations back to normal: IndiGo chairman
The IndiGo chairman said that the Board held an emergency meeting and set up a crisis management group after the first day of the disruptions, adding that the results have been “tangibly positive”.
“Operations are back to normal earlier than expected. Refunds worth several hundred crores have been processed. Hotel and travel assistance have been provided, and the remaining delayed baggage is now being delivered,” he said.
Nearly 220 flights were cancelled on Wednesday, with Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru airports reporting the highest numbers.
In the message, he also said that the Board has decided to involve external technical experts to join hands with the management and work to determine the root cause of the situation. “The board has decided it will involve external technical experts to work with the management and help determine the root causes and ensure corrective action, so that this level of disruption never occurs again,” he said.
