IndiGo Flight Disruptions: Captain Gopinath Analysis

Mumbai, Dec 11 (PTI) Flight disruptions at IndiGo was a chaos that compounded and snowballed possibly because somewhere along the line "too much arrogance and too much of self confidence" might have crept in, with the airline missing to read the tea leaves, according to veteran aviator Captain Gopinath.

Gopinath, the pioneer of low-cost carrier concept in India, told PTI Videos that IndiGo was not connected to the reality.

Lack of proper planning in implementing the second phase of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms that came into force from November 1 is one of the key reasons for flight disruptions that started from December 2. With the new norms, the airline did not have adequate number of pilots to operate its flights.

While talking about the flight disruptions, Gopinath also highlighted that in an industry where there are more tombstones for airlines in the world than in probably any other venture, IndiGo to grow to have more than 400 aircraft and on time performance, among other elements, is no mean achievement.

"It is very clear, it is glaring, in fact, that this was a chaos that got compounded, snowballed, and became an uncontrollable kind of a tsunami, because somewhere along the line, I think, arrogance crept in, too much of self-confidence, cockiness, and so they missed reading the tea leaves, as they say," he said in an interview.

Gopinath also claimed that when the focus is so much on the bottom line, the growth in revenue and profits and stock market, then "sometimes, it happens to everyone that they stopped listening to the pilots and the other staff".

According to him, if IndiGo had reduced the number of flights before selling the tickets, everything would have been kosher.

Aviation regulator DGCA has directed the airline to reduce the winter schedule flights by 10 per cent to stabilise operations. Besides, he mentioned that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) should be completely an independent regulator and there should be no nepotism and no political influence.