IndiGo Crisis: What Next?

In partnership with

Good Morning. We come to you with a special edition of our newsletter this Sunday morning, as the IndiGo crisis, the worst seen by Indian aviation, enters its 6th day. If you’re someone who is taking a flight out of any city in India, the airline on Saturday suggested that passengers check the latest flight status before reaching the airport. 

Also, if you, like many of us, were shocked by the prices of air tickets when you tried to reschedule your flight, that should get better from Sunday onwards, as the government has capped prices of airfares and ordered that they should be in place till the problem resolves. 

P.S. We erroneously called our Saturday evening newsletter a Sunday morning special; we regret the error.

A Cap On Airfares, IndiGo Says 95% Connectivity Re-Established: What To Expect Next

Crisis-hit Indigo has promised that it is trying to put things back to normal as soon as possible, even as passengers across the country continued to suffer over the weekend. In a statement released on Saturday, the airline said that they have operated 1,500 flights by the end of the day, and that it will be able to operate 135 out of the existing 138 destinations that they cover. 

The airline said that it re-established 95% of connectivity across destinations. 

“The main objective was to reboot the network, systems, and rosters so that we could start afresh today with a higher number of flights, improved stability, and there are some early signs of improvement,” the airline said in a statement. 

This comes even as the pilots' association and even passengers believe that there should be a probe into what went wrong. 

PTI reported that 87% respondents of a Local Circle survey of IndiGo passengers said they wanted the service deficiency of the airline to be put under the Class Action provision of the CP Act 2019. This provision allows for a group of people to sue over a common grievance. 

The Big Updates From Saturday: 

— India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has set up a four-member committee to examine the disruptions.

— The government capped airfares, which were going into lakhs of rupees for certain sectors amid the crisis. Now, up to 500 km ticket prices are capped at Rs 7,500, for 500-1,000 kms at Rs 12,000, from 1,000-1,500 kms at Rs 15,000 and for above 1,500 kms at Rs 18,000

—  Air India and Air India Express said that they were proactively capping fares for economy class for non-stop domestic flights. However, it warned, “We are aware of screenshots of last-minute itineraries with one-stop or two-stop flights or a combination of economy and premium economy or business cabins taken from third-party platforms. It is not technically possible to cap all such permutations, but we are engaging such platforms to exercise oversight.” 

— Air India and Air India Express were also adding capacity to help ease chaos. 

— The Indian Railways has also said it will run 84 special trains to help people affected by the crisis. 

What Does This Mean?

While even on Saturday, IndiGo and Delhi Airport said that operations were steadily resuming, news of several flight cancellations and people being stranded continued to flood social media. 

However, flight operations will likely be better than they were on Friday and Saturday, and passengers are likely to find more rescheduling options at saner prices. 

What Next For IndiGo? 

The airline has said that it cancelled thousands of flights this week, citing a shortage of pilots after it failed to implement new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms. Since the crisis ensued, the DGCA, has relaxed crew members’ weekly rest rules for the airline till February 10. 

However, aviation experts, including pilots that The Core has spoken to, believe that IndiGo had enough time to implement the rules and also asked for a probe into the matter. 

A pilot had told The Core on the condition of anonymity that the ministry assured them that “our inputs and allegations will be taken seriously, including how IndiGo precipitated this situation, why only IndiGo was affected, and why the airline didn’t plan for the rule change.” 

A spokesperson from the Federation of Indian Pilots was of the opinion that IndiGo held the card and it was the airline that could bring things back to normalcy. 

Aviation analyst Mark Martin had told The Core earlier this week, “After what happened, Indian passengers are not going to forget this. People were stranded — not because of weather or technical issues, but because of operational decisions. That has damaged IndiGo’s credibility significantly.” 

For now Civil Aviation Minister has also solely put the responsibility on IndiGo and said there will be a probe. “It's not could be, it will be. There will be action on them, because this is not something which we want to entertain. We are very clear that the focus of the ministry is the passenger... It is our job, our responsibility, to ensure that these kinds of incidents don't happen next time. So, we are very, very clear that action is going to follow the inquiry,” NDTV quoted Ram Mohan Naidu as saying on Friday. 

✍️ Zinal Dedhia, Kudrat Wadhwa, Shubhangi Bhatia | ✂️ Rohini Chatterji | 🎧 Joshua Thomas

🤝 Reach 80k+ CXOs? Partner with us.

✉️ Got questions or feedback? Reach out.

💰 Like The Core? Support us.