'Apology and Regret': IndiGo CEO & COO state 5 factors that led to disruption—DGCA studying airline response

Civil aviation regulator DGCA on Monday evening received the troubled private sector airline IndiGo's response to its show cause notice. The top management of the airline -- whose operations remain disrupted for the seventh day in a row -- mentioned a combination of five factors that caused operational disruptions.

The carrier's reply, signed by both its chief executive officer (CEO) and chief operating officer (COO), was received at 6:01 pm, according to DGCA.

The timing of the submission was in line with an extended deadline granted by the aviation regulator at the airline's request on Sunday, requiring the airline to submit its full response by 6 pm on Monday. The regulator had ordered the airline's top management to reply to its show cause notice explaining what caused the recent large-scale operational disruptions and flight cancellations across its network.

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Key takeaways from IndiGo's response to DGCA

DGCA said that "IndiGo is 'profusely apologetic' and deeply regrets the inconvenience and hardship caused to customers. They attribute the disruption to the 'compounding effect of multiple factors,' which operated in an 'unfortunate and unforeseeable confluence'."

Stating that it is "realistically not possible to pinpoint the exact cause(s)" at this time due to the complexity and vast scale of operations, IndiGo suggested that more time is needed for it to conduct a comprehensive 'root cause analysis' (RCA) and then submit a fuller response, recalling that the regulator's manual allows a fifteen-day response timeline for show cause notices.

IndiGo promised to share the complete root cause analysis report with DGCA once finished, according to DGCA.

IndiGo mentions preliminary contributing factors

The private airline stated that the disruption resulted from a combination of five factors:

• Minor technical glitches
• Schedule changes linked to the start of the winter season
• Adverse weather conditions
• Increased congestion in the aviation system
• Implementation of and operation under the updated crew rostering rules (Flight Duty Time Limitation Phase II)

These factors, according to IndiGo, "coincided in lesser or greater measure".

IndiGo also stated that it has been engaging with DGCA regarding challenges in implementing the second phase of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) and was seeking variations, exemptions or extensions.

The disruptions began in early December when the compounding factors resulted in a lower on-time network performance, which affected crew availability, it noted.

'IndiGo took a drastic measure on December 5'

On December 5, according to DGCA, IndiGo took the "drastic measure" of "rebooting" its network by "taking a significant number of cancellations to recover stranded customers, ease airport congestion, and reposition crew/aircraft".

This allowed services to progressively restore and normalise starting December 6, it noted.

"IndiGo claims they provided timely notifications and facilitations (meals and refreshments, hotels and local transport) to the best extent possible, as per DGCA CAR requirements. Substantial refunds have been processed for most affected customers," said the regulator.

It also said it is in the process of examining the response and will take enforcement action, as deemed appropriate, in due course.

IndiGo shares

Earlier on Monday, the IndiGo stock fell 8.3 per cent to end at Rs 4,926.6 apiece on BSE, falling for the seventh trading session in a row.