IndiGo: What’s causing the mess on IndiGo? More than 200 flights were canceled in two days. Described
IndiGo: After more than 200 of its flights were canceled in two days and several more were delayed since Tuesday, IndiGo is in a state of anarchy. Due mostly to a personnel shortage, the biggest airline in India had one of its worst operational failures in recent memory. Many passengers were unable to board, while others had their plans disrupted by sudden cancellations, while others waited for hours at airports.
IndiGo expressed regret for the inconvenience and said that it has started calibrating its timetables. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said that it was investigating the matter and has requested a thorough report from the airline outlining the reasons for the malfunction.
What led to the interruptions on IndiGo?
According to a spokeswoman, many overlapping problems have severely impacted IndiGo’s network over the last two days. These included bad weather, high traffic, technical issues, and the implementation of revised Flight Duty Time Limitations, which went into force in November.
When a critical software upgrade for Airbus A320 aircraft created more disruptions during the prior weekend, the situation became worse. Following a precipitous altitude drop on a JetBlue-operated A320 on a trip from Mexico that injured fifteen passengers and necessitated an emergency landing, the patch was required. At a time when the airline was already having trouble with new personnel rostering restrictions connected to FDTL, the obligatory upgrade put further strain on its operations.
An already tight crew situation was made worse by the obligatory Airbus patch, according to people familiar with the matter.
The requirements of the FDTL regulations
Since the new FDTL regulations went into effect, the airline has been severely impacted by a pilot shortage. The regulations are designed to increase flight crew rest and lessen tiredness. They expand the definition of night hours, limit pilots to two night landings instead of the previous six, and raise the weekly rest requirements to 48 hours. As part of its supervision of crew working hours, the DGCA releases FDTL regulations.
IndiGo’s timeliness drastically declines
According to official statistics, the airline, which often takes pleasure on its timeliness, only had a 35% on-time performance on Tuesday. Compared to IndiGo’s usual record of over 80% at major airports, this was the lowest among Indian airlines and a sharp decline.
In the midst of the continuing crisis at IndiGo, the Airline Pilots Association of India, which represents over eight hundred pilots, criticized what it called a lack of proactive resource planning by key airlines.