'Why were more pilots not hired?': Civil Aviation Minister fires key questions to IndiGo chairman
IndiGO chairman did not answer many of the pertinent questions still going around, Ram Mohan Naidu said while speaking at Agenda AajTak
- Dec 11, 2025,
- Updated Dec 11, 2025 5:04 PM IST
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Thursday said IndiGo Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta - who issued his first statement a day earlier - had not answered several key questions, including why the airline had not hired new pilots in the last six months. "He does not answer many of the pertinent questions which are still going around," Naidu said while speaking at Agenda AajTak.
"For the last six months, why was pilot hiring put on freeze? On 3rd December, let's suppose operations were going for a toss, then why did they not inform the people whose flights were getting cancelled beforehand so that they don't come to airports? Who was managing that?" he asked.
The minister also questioned why IndiGo, despite knowing that cancellations were happening, did not inform flyers in advance. "When they knew that delays and cancellations were happening, they were not able to manage the roster, then why did they let the situation come to the point where they were saying flights were operating, you please come to the airport."
"So all these questions are unanswered (by the IndiGo Chairman). I'm not relying on the statements that he has made, which is why we have put a four-member committee to know all the answers. And once we have the report, we are definitely going to take action."
On Wednesday, the IndiGo Chairman had said that the airline's board will examine every aspect of the flight disruptions. In a video message, he also said the board has decided to involve external technical experts to work with the management and help determine the root causes that led to the disruption.
Since last week, IndiGo has cancelled thousands of flights nationwide after failing to plan for tighter safety regulations. The cancellations peaked on December 5 and have declined since. "We did not meet your expectations during those days. And for that, we are truly, truly sorry," the chairman said.
Mehta said there had been a lot of criticism - "some fair, some not." "The fair criticism is that the airline let you down. We owe answers to our customers, to our government, to our shareholders and, equally importantly, to our employees. We assure you that we will examine every aspect of what went wrong and we will learn from it," he said.
The chairman defended the board, saying criticism against it was not correct. He said the board has decided it will involve external technical experts to work with the management and help determine the root causes and ensure "corrective action" so that this level of disruption never occurs again.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Thursday said IndiGo Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta - who issued his first statement a day earlier - had not answered several key questions, including why the airline had not hired new pilots in the last six months. "He does not answer many of the pertinent questions which are still going around," Naidu said while speaking at Agenda AajTak.
"For the last six months, why was pilot hiring put on freeze? On 3rd December, let's suppose operations were going for a toss, then why did they not inform the people whose flights were getting cancelled beforehand so that they don't come to airports? Who was managing that?" he asked.
The minister also questioned why IndiGo, despite knowing that cancellations were happening, did not inform flyers in advance. "When they knew that delays and cancellations were happening, they were not able to manage the roster, then why did they let the situation come to the point where they were saying flights were operating, you please come to the airport."
"So all these questions are unanswered (by the IndiGo Chairman). I'm not relying on the statements that he has made, which is why we have put a four-member committee to know all the answers. And once we have the report, we are definitely going to take action."
On Wednesday, the IndiGo Chairman had said that the airline's board will examine every aspect of the flight disruptions. In a video message, he also said the board has decided to involve external technical experts to work with the management and help determine the root causes that led to the disruption.
Since last week, IndiGo has cancelled thousands of flights nationwide after failing to plan for tighter safety regulations. The cancellations peaked on December 5 and have declined since. "We did not meet your expectations during those days. And for that, we are truly, truly sorry," the chairman said.
Mehta said there had been a lot of criticism - "some fair, some not." "The fair criticism is that the airline let you down. We owe answers to our customers, to our government, to our shareholders and, equally importantly, to our employees. We assure you that we will examine every aspect of what went wrong and we will learn from it," he said.
The chairman defended the board, saying criticism against it was not correct. He said the board has decided it will involve external technical experts to work with the management and help determine the root causes and ensure "corrective action" so that this level of disruption never occurs again.