‘Step by step...’: IndiGo CEO signals recovery as flights rise to 1,650 amid crisis probe

IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on December 7 said the airline is “getting back” after days of mass cancellations and delays, with around 1,650 flights expected to operate through the day as efforts to stabilise the network continue. The country’s largest carrier, which typically runs about 2,300 flights daily, managed roughly 1,500 flights on Saturday — a sharp recovery from the little over 700 it operated on December 5. 

In an internal video message to staff from the airline’s operational control centre, Elbers said IndiGo’s On Time Performance (OTP) is expected to reach 75 percent today. “Today, we have realised further improvements of the system in order to reach around 1,650 flights,” he said, adding that “step by step, we are getting back”.

Elbers also noted that cancellations were being executed earlier in the day to prevent passengers from turning up at airports unaware of flight disruptions. According to the airline, 137 of its 138 destinations are operational on December 7. 

Facing criticism for the board’s silence during the meltdown, IndiGo today issued a defence, saying its directors have been actively involved since the first day of mass cancellations. The airline said the board met immediately after the disruptions began and later convened a board-only session, where members agreed to form a Crisis Management Group (CMG) to oversee the recovery. 

The CMG includes Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta; Board Directors Gregg Saretsky, Mike Whitaker and Amitabh Kant; and CEO Pieter Elbers. 

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has meanwhile pressed the four-member High Level Committee probing the collapse to fast-track its inquiry, after finding IndiGo’s responses “not satisfactory” so far, sources told India Today. The panel, initially given 15 days to submit its report, has now been asked to expedite its findings and “zero down” the root cause of the fiasco and those responsible, as flight disruptions continue to affect passengers nationwide. 

(With inputs from PTI)