Govt says IndiGo crisis due to airline's mismanagement, vows strict action

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu on Monday told the Rajya Sabha that an investigation is underway to establish the reasons for the IndiGo fiasco.

He also said that strict action will be taken to set an example for any non-compliance in future, as he put the blame on the disruption to the airline's mismanagement in crew rostering and internal planning.

In his first comments in Parliament on the issue, Naidu responded to queries from multiple MPs during the Question Hour insisting that there will be no compromise on the issue of safety even as the Opposition walked out of the House claiming that they were unsatisfied with the minister's response.

The issue was also raised in Lok Sabha with the Opposition demanding an immediate statement by the minister with Congress Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi highlighting a large number of cancellations creating inconvenience to people and surging airfare. Speaker Om Birla said Naidu will make a detailed statement either on Monday or Tuesday.

IndiGo services had gone into a tailspin in the past few days following the airline struggling with its rostering of pilots in line with new norms of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) that mandated 48 hours of uninterrupted rest for pilots.

In Rajya Sabha, Naidu highlighted that the first phase of new FDTL norms were implemented on July 1 this year and the second phase on November 1. Everything was running normal for a month from November 1 when the second phase was implemented but suddenly they observed disruption from December 3, prompting the ministry's intervention.

"The IndiGo crisis happened due to problems in its crew rostering and internal planning system...We are not taking the situation lightly. We are conducting an investigation and we will take very strict action not only for them but for all airlines...We will take very strict action so that we set an example in the industry," he said.

Naidu said the ministry had multiple meetings with stakeholders before the implementation of new FDTL norms. They said some airlines had sought some variations owing to the nature of operations and it were allowed only after taking into consideration the overall air safety parameters, as there can be no compromise on the issue of safety.

On IndiGo, he said there were "a lot of internal complications" and the airline should have maintained its affairs properly. "IndiGo was supposed to manage the roster...We are there to check if the FDTL is implemented or not...We even had a meeting with IndiGo on December 1. They had not flagged this issue," he said.

Asked how the government plans to ensure that no airline gets market dominance like IndiGo, Naidu said the Indian aviation market is growing in such a way it has space for five big airlines. "We want more airlines. India has capacity for five big airlines," he said.