IndiGo Flight Disruptions: Board to Examine Causes

Mumbai, Dec 10 (PTI) IndiGo Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta on Wednesday said that the airline's board will examine every aspect of the recent flight disruptions at the carrier.

In a video message, he also said that the board has decided to involve external technical experts to work with the management and help determine the root causes that led to the disruption.

"On December 3, an unexpected chain of events led to large-scale flight cancellations ... Thousands of our passengers were left stranded ... I know how much distress this has caused. I want to say very simply and very clearly, we are sorry," Mehta said.

Since last week, IndiGo has cancelled thousands of flights nationwide after failing to plan for tighter safety regulations. The cancellations peaked on December 5 and have declined since. The airline on Tuesday said its operations have stabilised and were back to normal levels.

However, nearly 220 flights were cancelled at three major airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, on Wednesday.

"We did not meet your expectations during those days. And for that, we are truly, truly sorry," he said.

Over the past week, there has been a lot of criticism, "some fair, some not," Mehta said.

"The fair criticism is that the airline let you down. We owe answers to our customers, to our government, to our shareholders and, equally importantly, to our employees. We assure you that we will examine every aspect of what went wrong and we will learn from it," he said.

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 stated.

Aviation regulator DGCA has decided to constitute an oversight team "in view of passenger inconvenience caused due to large-scale disruptions in the operations of IndiGo Airlines at various airports across the country".

It has also summoned IndiGo Chief Executive Pieter Elbers to appear at its office on Thursday and submit a complete report, along with comprehensive data and updates, relating to the recent operational disruptions, according to a statement.