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‘No denying we erred’: Indigo chairman says airline will examine every aspect of flight disruptions
“Last week's events are a blemish on this airline's pristine, clean record. Our company has erred. There is no denying this,” chairman Vikram Singh Mehta said.
With IndiGo facing large-scale flight cancellations over the past week, the company's chairman Vikram Singh Mehta has assured that its Board would examine every aspect of the recent disruption.
In a video message posted to the IndiGo's official X handle, Mehta said the airline's Board had also decided to take the assistance of external technical experts. These experts will work with the company's management and help determine the root causes for the disruptions, which would later be followed by “corrective action”, he said.
While apologising for the flight cancellations and delays, Mehta said, “Thousands of our passengers were left stranded. Many missed important family events, business commitments, medical appointments and international connections. Baggage was delayed or misdirected. I know how much distress this has caused.”
Speaking about the criticism faced by the airline, Mehta acknowledged that they had “let (passengers) down.”
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“Last week's events are a blemish on this airline's pristine, clean record. Our company has erred. There is no denying this,” he added. Mehta further said he had waited to make a statement in order to support CEO Peter Elbers and his team in restoring operations and helping passengers who were affected.
Chairman's update on current situation
Providing an update on the present scenario, Mehta said Indigo operated 1,900 flights on Wednesday, connecting all 138 destinations. He said that the airline's one-time performance is “back to normal high levels.”
The Chairman also addressed claims that the airline had “engineered the crisis” and “tried to influence government rules”, and rejected them as “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. We did not attempt to bypass them, nor did we do anything that negatively impacted our unblemished track record of safety,” Mehta said.
He said the disruptions were not due to any “deliberate action”, while adding that “a combination of internal and unanticipated external events” had led to the cancellations.
Mehta said the disruption took place due to “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.”
He, however, reiterated that these were “not an excuse”, and said that an emergency Board meeting had been held to address the situation, and a crisis management group was set up. Mehta, in the message, also thanked Indigo's pilots, cabin crew, engineers, frontline staff and all employees “for showing resilience and supporting each other through a very intense period.”
