IndiGo faces challenges on multiple fronts as Civil Aviation Ministry issues show cause notice
The largest domestic fleet operator says it is adding new aircraft every week to expand capacity and the recent disruptions are rooted in unusual foggy skies of Delhi-NCR.
- Jan 16, 2024,
- Updated Jan 16, 2024 3:23 PM IST
InterGlobe Aviation, the largest domestic civil aviation operator with some 54 per cent share of the market, is facing challenges at multiple fronts. The company that operates under brand IndiGo, in the past few days have found itself amid controversies - ranging from disgruntled customer assaulting its staff in Delhi and flyers turning the Mumbai International Airport tarmac into dinning venue. And to add to its woes, the Civil Aviation Ministry today issued a show cause notice to it, along with the Mumbai Airport Authority.
On 14 January, after a 13 hour delay a passenger on-board attacked the pilot of a Goa-bound IndiGo aircraft that was still on-ground at Delhi International Airport. While the airline has put the blame on the dense fog that prevailed at the airport, a co-passenger who captured the incident and posted on a social media platform later alleged that the airline staff had been noncooperative and conveniently put the onus on the unruly passenger.
“Due to the low visibility and dense fog conditions across North India, IndiGo flight operations were impacted on Jan 14, 2024. This had a cascading effect on our operations throughout the day. Our staff kept passengers apprised of all delays and cancellations across airports and made every possible effort to facilitate the passengers,” IndiGo said in a statement, adding “during the announcement of a flight delay by the first officer of flight 6E2175, a passenger assaulted the first officer.” While the passenger has been added to the no-flyer list for 30 days and has been handed over to the authorities, Evgenia Belskaia, a Russian model who posted the video of the incident on Instagram, said "It's wrong to hit the pilot, but why is he blaming the passengers? Everyone was nervous and instead of supporting them you made it worse.”
If it wasn’t enough, the airline drew the ire of the civil aviation ministry when on the same day, in Mumbai, passengers from one its flights rushed out of the aircraft and sat on the tarmac and had their food on the spot. The unusual incident occurred when a Delhi-bound flight from Goa was diverted to Mumbai due to lack of visibility in the national capital region. “The flight was diverted to Mumbai due to low visibility conditions in Delhi. We sincerely apologise to our customers and are currently looking into the incident. We will take necessary steps to avoid any such instances in the future,” the airline said.
That, however, didn’t stop the authorities to issue a show cause notices to IndiGo and the Mumbai Airport Authority (MAIL). According to the notices, “both Indigo and MIAL were not proactive in anticipating the situation and making the appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers at the airport.” The ministry has sought answers by 16 January (Today). IndiGo is yet to comment on the show cause notice.
Amid all this hullabaloo, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued detailed SOP to airlines asking them to consider cancelling flights that are expected to be delayed beyond 3 hours.
The recent challenges struck IndiGo at a time, when the airline is facing an uphill battle with its capacity due to engine issues. Starting this quarter, it is already in the process to ground an additional 35 aircrafts due to powder metal issue with the Pratt Whitney engines. These would add to its already grounded 40 aircrafts, it had said earlier.
According to analysts at Geojit BNP Paribas, it is likely to impact IndiGo’s available seat kilometres in the near future. “The Pratt & Whitney (P&W) metal powder issue will start to impact the overall AKS in the near future. Management has indicated that the company will access the secondary market for the mitigation of engine-related issues,” they said in a report.
According to IndiGo, however, it is taking measures to compensate for the reduction in the number of aircrafts. “We are actively in talks with P&W to address the engine supply situation. As of December 15th, we have a total of 341 planes in our fleet. To further expand our capacity, we have taken a wide range of measures including leasing and retaining of aircrafts. we have been consistently adding new planes to our fleet, with almost one plane coming in each week. This steady influx of new capacity provides us with a natural hedge against some of the AOGs (aircrafts on ground) caused by the powder metal issue”, it says.
Also Read: IndiGo, Mumbai airport get Centre's notice over passengers eating on tarmac video
InterGlobe Aviation, the largest domestic civil aviation operator with some 54 per cent share of the market, is facing challenges at multiple fronts. The company that operates under brand IndiGo, in the past few days have found itself amid controversies - ranging from disgruntled customer assaulting its staff in Delhi and flyers turning the Mumbai International Airport tarmac into dinning venue. And to add to its woes, the Civil Aviation Ministry today issued a show cause notice to it, along with the Mumbai Airport Authority.
On 14 January, after a 13 hour delay a passenger on-board attacked the pilot of a Goa-bound IndiGo aircraft that was still on-ground at Delhi International Airport. While the airline has put the blame on the dense fog that prevailed at the airport, a co-passenger who captured the incident and posted on a social media platform later alleged that the airline staff had been noncooperative and conveniently put the onus on the unruly passenger.
“Due to the low visibility and dense fog conditions across North India, IndiGo flight operations were impacted on Jan 14, 2024. This had a cascading effect on our operations throughout the day. Our staff kept passengers apprised of all delays and cancellations across airports and made every possible effort to facilitate the passengers,” IndiGo said in a statement, adding “during the announcement of a flight delay by the first officer of flight 6E2175, a passenger assaulted the first officer.” While the passenger has been added to the no-flyer list for 30 days and has been handed over to the authorities, Evgenia Belskaia, a Russian model who posted the video of the incident on Instagram, said "It's wrong to hit the pilot, but why is he blaming the passengers? Everyone was nervous and instead of supporting them you made it worse.”
If it wasn’t enough, the airline drew the ire of the civil aviation ministry when on the same day, in Mumbai, passengers from one its flights rushed out of the aircraft and sat on the tarmac and had their food on the spot. The unusual incident occurred when a Delhi-bound flight from Goa was diverted to Mumbai due to lack of visibility in the national capital region. “The flight was diverted to Mumbai due to low visibility conditions in Delhi. We sincerely apologise to our customers and are currently looking into the incident. We will take necessary steps to avoid any such instances in the future,” the airline said.
That, however, didn’t stop the authorities to issue a show cause notices to IndiGo and the Mumbai Airport Authority (MAIL). According to the notices, “both Indigo and MIAL were not proactive in anticipating the situation and making the appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers at the airport.” The ministry has sought answers by 16 January (Today). IndiGo is yet to comment on the show cause notice.
Amid all this hullabaloo, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued detailed SOP to airlines asking them to consider cancelling flights that are expected to be delayed beyond 3 hours.
The recent challenges struck IndiGo at a time, when the airline is facing an uphill battle with its capacity due to engine issues. Starting this quarter, it is already in the process to ground an additional 35 aircrafts due to powder metal issue with the Pratt Whitney engines. These would add to its already grounded 40 aircrafts, it had said earlier.
According to analysts at Geojit BNP Paribas, it is likely to impact IndiGo’s available seat kilometres in the near future. “The Pratt & Whitney (P&W) metal powder issue will start to impact the overall AKS in the near future. Management has indicated that the company will access the secondary market for the mitigation of engine-related issues,” they said in a report.
According to IndiGo, however, it is taking measures to compensate for the reduction in the number of aircrafts. “We are actively in talks with P&W to address the engine supply situation. As of December 15th, we have a total of 341 planes in our fleet. To further expand our capacity, we have taken a wide range of measures including leasing and retaining of aircrafts. we have been consistently adding new planes to our fleet, with almost one plane coming in each week. This steady influx of new capacity provides us with a natural hedge against some of the AOGs (aircrafts on ground) caused by the powder metal issue”, it says.
Also Read: IndiGo, Mumbai airport get Centre's notice over passengers eating on tarmac video