Mumbai | IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers on Thursday said the airline's focus now is on three things -- resilience, root-cause analysis, and rebuilding, after the domestic carrier inconvenienced and caused hardship to lakhs of passengers across airports by cancelling thousands of flights earlier this month.
In a video message to employees on Thursday, Elbers said the focus of IndiGo is now on rebuilding the airline post-stabilisation of operations, and that the airline's Board has appointed an external aviation expert to conduct a comprehensive root-cause analysis.
"On December 9, I shared the stabilization of IndiGo's operation. After that, we restored our network to 2,200 flights today (Thursday). Now we focus on three things: resilience, root cause analysis and rebuilding (the airline)," Elbers said.
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.
IndiGo CEO says worst behind airline after operational disruption
IndiGo's chief executive Pieter Elbers told employees that the airline has stabilised operations after a period of disruption, saying the worst was over and that the country's largest airline was now focused on resilience, a root-cause review and rebuilding.
In a video message to staff, Elbers said IndiGo has restored most of its flight network following the disruptions.
In early December, the airline cancelled hundreds of flights - at times more than 1,600 in a single day - due to planning issues linked to new pilot duty rules, crew shortages, winter weather and operational bottlenecks. The cancellations impacted tens of thousands of travellers and triggered regulatory scrutiny, schedule cuts and a temporary suspension of certain pilot duty norms to stabilise operations.
Since then, IndiGo has gradually restored services, operating 2,200 flights on Thursday and working to normalise its network while reviewing causes and compensating affected customers.
"Through the storm, we are finding our wings again. The worst is behind us," Elbers said.
He said the past two weeks had been "very challenging" but credited pilots, cabin crew, airport teams, operations control and customer service staff for restoring the network to around 2,200 flights a day.
"On December 9, I shared the stabilization of IndiGo's operation. After that, we restored our network to 2,200 flights today," he said. "Given our scale and complexity, recovering from such a situation in a short time is a testament to our teamwork and the strength of our operating principles." The airline, he said, is now focused on three things - resilience, root cause analysis, and rebuilding.
IndiGo has appointed an external aviation expert to conduct a comprehensive root-cause analysis into the disruption, he said, urging employees to avoid speculation while the review is underway.
The CEO said similar disruptions had affected large airlines globally and that lessons would be used to strengthen IndiGo's systems.
With the onset of the bad weather and peak aviation season, the airline's immediate priority is to reinforce operational resilience and minimise the impact of external factors on customers, he said.
"Bad weather and peak season started this week and all the focus is to solidify the operations and doing our level best to keep the operations stable and minimize impact of those external factors on operations and customers," he said, adding this has always been a challenging period for the airline.
Stating that everyone wants to know the reasons for disruptions, he said an external aviation expert has been appointed by the board to conduct a comprehensive root cause analysis.
As part of the rebuilding effort, the leadership team will travel across the network to meet employees and gather feedback on challenges faced during the disruption.
"A combination of this root cause analysis and your input will help us build Indigo even stronger and even better," he said.
The CEO said the recent difficulties should not define the airline's 19-year history, noting that IndiGo has grown from a single aircraft in 2006 to a workforce of about 65,000 employees, carrying more than 850 million passengers with an unblemished safety record.
IndiGo will continue to focus on reliability, accessibility, discipline and customer service as it moves forward, he added. "We continue to serve India with the same focus that built this very company - reliability, accessibility, discipline and customer focus." He ended the message thanking IndiGo colleagues. "Through this storm we found our wings again. From here on, onward and upwards."
