New Delhi:IndiGo Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta on Thursday said that the airline’s Board will bring in external technical experts to work with the management and identify the root causes behind last week’s massive flight disruptions.  

In a detailed statement, Mehta said the experts will help ensure that such large-scale operational failures never happen again.

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Chairman issues public apology

Mehta began his message by apologising to passengers affected by the disruptions that occurred between December 3 and 5.

He said thousands of travellers were stranded, with many missing important personal events, business meetings, medical appointments and international connections. Baggage delays further added to the chaos.

“We are truly, truly sorry,” he said, acknowledging that the airline failed to meet customer expectations.

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Why IndiGo initially stayed silent

He explained that the Board had initially chosen not to make an early statement because it wanted the management, led by CEO Pieter Elbers, to focus on restoring operations.

“IndiGo is now operating more than 1,900 flights a day, connecting all 138 destinations, with on-time performance back to normal levels,” he stated.

Mehta said the airline has faced both fair and unfair criticism. He admitted that the fair criticism was that the airline let passengers down.

He assured that IndiGo will carefully examine what went wrong and will provide answers to customers, the government, shareholders and employees.

“As part of this process, the Board has decided to involve independent technical experts to support the investigation and corrective actions,” Mehta added.

He also countered several allegations, including claims that IndiGo engineered the crisis, tried to influence government rules or compromised safety.

“The airline fully followed the updated pilot fatigue rules and did not attempt to bypass them at any point,” Mehta mentioned.

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Multiple factors behind the disruptions

“The disruptions were caused by a combination of internal issues and unexpected external factors such as minor technical glitches, winter schedule adjustments, bad weather, congestion in the aviation system and the implementation of new crew rostering rules,” he added.

Mehta emphasised that the Board had been closely involved throughout, saying it held an emergency meeting on the first day of disruptions and set up a Crisis Management Group that has been meeting daily.

“Refunds worth several hundred crores have already been processed, help has been provided for accommodation and travel, and remaining delayed baggage is being delivered,” Mehta noted.

(IANS)