IndiGo Apologises After 2 Days of Widespread Disruption Over Staff Shortage

IndiGo, India's largest airline, has issued an apology following two days of significant flight disruptions across its network, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and frustrated. The chaos, which unfolded on Tuesday and Wednesday, involved widespread delays and cancellations, with over 550 flights cancelled on Thursday. The airline attributed the disruptions to a confluence of factors, including crew shortages stemming from the implementation of new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms, minor technical glitches, airport congestion, and adverse weather conditions.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India's aviation regulator, has taken cognizance of the situation and launched an investigation, requesting full details from IndiGo regarding the causes of the disruption and its plans for restoring operational stability.

In an internal email to employees, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers acknowledged the airline's failure to provide a good customer experience during this period. "These past few days have been difficult for many of our IndiGo customers and colleagues," Elbers wrote. "We serve close to 380,000 customers a day and want each of them to have a good experience. We could not live up to that promise these past days, and we have publicly apologised for that". He stated that the airline's immediate goal is to normalize operations and restore punctuality.

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has accused IndiGo of inadequate staffing and a hiring freeze, leading to the widespread flight cancellations and delays. FIP urged the DGCA to ensure airlines have adequate staff under new flight duty norms before approving schedules, highlighting IndiGo's failure to prepare despite a two-year window. The pilots' body alleged that IndiGo "inexplicably adopted a hiring freeze, entered non-poaching arrangements, maintained a pilot pay freeze through cartel-like behavior, and demonstrated other short-sighted planning practices" despite having ample time to prepare for the FDTL implementation.

IndiGo has initiated what it calls "calibrated adjustments" to its schedule, which involve selective rescheduling and cancellations to align operations with available crew levels. The airline is offering affected passengers alternate flight options or full refunds.

The disruptions have had a cascading effect, impacting other airlines and airports. At Pune airport, for instance, nine of the ten parking bays were occupied by IndiGo aircraft overnight, leaving just one available for other airlines.

Pilot groups have alleged that IndiGo's failure to adequately prepare for the rollout of new flight duty and rest norms for cockpit crew, despite a two-year lead time, is at the core of the large-scale disruption. IndiGo pilots have said that the disruptions over the past few days stem from crew shortages following the implementation of the new FDTL norms from end-November. According to pilots, captains began refusing flights from December 1, forcing the airline to rework rosters and arrange replacements, triggering a cascading effect.

The DGCA has asked IndiGo to present the "facts leading to the current situation" and submit mitigation plans. The civil aviation body has also asked the airline to cite appropriate reasons behind the flight cancellations and delays that occurred throughout November. In response, IndiGo cited staff shortage and Air Traffic Control (ATC) failures as contributing factors.

The situation has drawn criticism on social media, with passengers sharing their experiences of long delays and lack of information from airline staff. Passengers also complained that they had to take expensive flights with other carriers due to the disruption. IndiGo's on-time performance plummeted, with only 19.7% of its flights operating on time on Wednesday.