Airline’s focus now on resilience, root cause analysis, rebuilding: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers

Attributing the disruptions seemingly to a “compounding effect of several factors,” he said, “an external aviation expert has been appointed by the Board to conduct a comprehensive root cause analysis.” Elbers said he, along with the leadership, will travel across the network to meet the employees and understand the challenges they faced during the disruptions.

These were the employees on the ground, who faced severe backlash and public ire during the over a week-long massive disruptions at the Rahul Bhatia-controlled private carrier, as the airline failed to provide even basic amenities or proper information while abruptly cancelling hundreds of flights every day.

IndiGo cancelled thousands of flights between December 1 and December 9 due to a lack of proper planning and crew shortages in implementing the new regulations on pilots’ duty periods and rest, which were put in place from November 1.

A DGCA panel is already probing the operational disruptions at IndiGo.

Besides, the government has already slashed IndiGo’s current winter schedule by 10 per cent following large-scale flight cancellations earlier this month.