In a fresh action against the IndiGo amid ongoing crisis, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has instructed the airline to cut down its flight operation by 5% to ease passengers’ trouble, reports said. This comes as the past few days witnessed perhaps one of the worst aviation crisis in the country with IndiGo cancelling thousands of flights, leaving a large number of passengers stranded across the country. The airports were choked with travellers and their luggage as the entire airline system tried to manage the unprecedented situation that only worsened.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) issued a number of directions to mitigate the crisis. However, hundreds of flights were cancelled on Tuesday as well, with passengers stuck at airports.
A mass call for action against IndiGo has been made by the passengers and the opposition in parliament. Amid this, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu assured of “very very strict action” against the IndiGo management. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also taken several actions to tackle the crisis.
Actions taken against IndiGo
In its fresh instruction, the DGCA has asked IndiGo to cut its flight destinations by 5%, reports said. It added that the airline has been informed to reduce its 115 flights out of 2,300 daily to reduce the crisis, reported Times of India, citing sources.
The report added that a decision on a further 5% cut may be taken in coming days, “depending on the level of daily flights at which the airline is able to operate as per schedule”.
IndiGo has a monopoly on 63% routes of total domestic destinations where Indian air carriers fly planes to. A total of 1,200 domestic routes are there of which IndiGo operates on 950 on a daily basis. 600 of these routes are monopoly ones where only IndiGo flies planes, reported Indian Express, citing data analysed by aviation analyst and former network planner Ameya Joshi.
IndiGo had an approved summer schedule of 14,158 weekly domestic flights. In winter, the same increased by 6% to 15,014. However, the new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) increased pilot requirements. With new norms in effect from November 1, IndiGo saw sudden cancellations that only increased with each passing hour.
The DGCA has also asked IndiGo to submit a revised winter schedule, taking into account all that has happened so far. The aviation regulator gave the airline temporary exemptions from night operations-related changes. Now officials said the regulator sought a revised schedule after IndiGo “failed to adhere to the approved winter plan” and did not proactively disclose internal operational disruptions.
DGCA gets tough on CEO, COO
The DGCA earlier asked IndiGo to submit a compliance report within 30 days, and keep updating the regulator every 15 days about the situation of flight operations.
The regulator also issued show-cause notices to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and COO Isidre Porqueras, who is also the accountable manager, and asked for their response.
DGCA notices said that IndiGo’s large-scale operational failures indicate significant lapses in planning, oversight, and resource management. “…as the CEO (and accountable manager) you are responsible for ensuring effective management of the airline but you have failed in your duty to ensure timely arrangements for conduct of reliable operations and the availability of requisite facilities to the passengers,” it read, quoted TOI.