New Delhi: Indigo Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta said a combination of factors led to the flights crisis. He refuted allegations that the airline compromised on safety.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of InterGlobe Aviation Limited (IndiGo) Vikram Singh Mehta offered an unconditional apology acknowledging the airline “let passengers down.”
“Over the past week, our airline has faced major operational disruptions that have affected many of our valued customers personally,” he said in a video message.
He said, on December 3, an unexpected chain of events led to large-scale flight cancellations. “This continued into December 4 and 5. 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 caused. I want to say, very simply and very clearly. We are sorry,” Mehta said.
The chairman of the low-cost carrier said for the last several days, he had been urged to make a statement. “However, I chose to wait because the Board and I felt that our first duty was to support the CEO of IndiGo, Pieter Elbers & his team, restore operations, and help passengers who were affected,” he said.
Mehta said “Pieter has already announced that operations are now stable. Today, we are operating over 1,900 flights”. He said all 138 destinations served by the carrier are connected. “On-time performance back to normal high levels. With this stability achieved, I feel this is the right time for me to speak. I know an apology cannot make up for missed events, long waits, or the stress many of you experienced. But it is important for me to express our regret and acknowledge the disruption you faced,” he said.
Mehta said, “Over the past week, there has been a lot of criticism—some fair, some not. 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.”
The chairman of the airline which has been facing backlash for the last several days for large-scale flight cancellations, said, “We assure you that we will examine every aspect of what went wrong and we will learn from it. The Board has decided it will involve an external technical expert to work with the management and help determine the root causes and ensure corrective action. So that this level of disruption never occurs again”.
Mehta, however, refuted some allegations. “However, there are some allegations that are untrue like, that IndiGo engineered the crisis, that we tried to influence government rules, that we compromised safety or that the Board was not involved,” he said.
Mehta said IndiGo has followed the pilot fatigue (FDTL) rules as they came into effect. “We operated under the new rules throughout… both in July and November. We did not attempt to bypass them. Nor did we do anything that negatively impacted our unblemished track record of safety.”
He iterated that, “The disruptions of last week did not happen because of any deliberate action. They happened because a combination of internal and unanticipated external events including minor technical glitches, scheduled changes linked to the start of the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system, and implementation of/ and operation under the updated Crew Rostering rules”.
He said, the combination of events pushed our systems beyond their limits. “There has also been a claim that the Board was not engaged. This is not correct. The Board has been closely involved with this matter for many months. Both the Board and the Risk management committee have received relevant information from the management on the implementation of the rules,” he added,
Mehta said following the first day of the disruptions, “we held an emergency Board meeting and set up a crisis management group. Since then, Board members have been in continuous contact with the management team. The crisis Management team has been meeting every day.”
He said the carrier’s collective focus has been to restore operations, support passengers, communicate transparently and prevent the crisis from happening again.
Mehta thanked the airline’s staff. “Here I must acknowledge a huge debt of gratitude to IndiGo’s pilots, cabin crew, engineers, all the front line staff, and employees working in the offices. Thank you for showing resilience and supporting each other through an intense period. Your work has been essential in bringing the network back to stability,” he said in the video message while expressing his gratitude to the government and regulators for their cooperation and support. “I assure them, we remain committed to continuous improvement,” he said.
Mehta said, “Last week’s events are a blemish on the airline’s pristine – clean record. The company has erred. There is no denying this. It has now to build back your trust. This will not be easy. It will depend on actions not words. It will be a journey.”
