Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu Kinjarapu said IndiGo’s CEO and management have failed to handle the operational crisis and flight cancellations that have led to major inconvenience for passengers and strict action will be taken after looking into the airline’s response to the Show Cause notice.
In an exclusive interview with senior journalist Sudhir Chaudhary on DD News’ flagship news program ‘Decode’, Rammohan Naidu said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “led us and told us to focus on passengers and do more than what is required”.
The minister said the problems faced by IndiGo Airlines passengers were related to the airline’s internal crew roster and operational planning.
“It was their responsibility and they failed in it. And that’s why we gave them a Show Cause Notice. They responded today and I’m going to study it,” the minister said.
“One thing is clear from this entire IndiGo episode that this crisis is an internal crisis of IndiGo – related to crew management and pilot utilization issues. In light of this, we have constituted a four-member committee under DGCA which should come up with all the details within 15 days,” Naidu added.
Read also | IndiGo Flights LIVE: DGCA to take appropriate action after airline’s response
The minister noted that the new Flight Service Time Limitation (FDTL) rules were introduced on November 1 and the IndiGo crisis erupted on December 3.
“We have to consider two things. The new FDTL rules were introduced on November 1st. If this crisis was caused by these rules, then why did the crisis erupt after one month, on December 3rd? Secondly, when the delays and cancellations started on December 3rd. So why were the appropriate measures and communication not put in place? Why were passengers not informed in advance?” asked the minister.
“We will take action after all the details and versions are presented to us,” he said.
Talking about the passengers and the suffering they faced, Naidu said, “While taking measures and future steps, we will also keep the suffering of the passengers in mind”.
Read also | IndiGo ‘profoundly’ sorry for flight cancellation, informs DGCA of reasons
The minister said that an example must be set so that such a crisis does not happen again.
“Also now we want to lead by example. We set rules and regulations in the ministry. We back it up with vigilance and monitoring. Two days before the crisis, on December 1, the DGCA had a meeting with IndiGo officials – to explain the FDTL rules and offer whatever clarifications they wanted. But at that time, IndiGo officials did not raise any issue. Why? What led to such a situation?” asked the minister.
Regarding refunds to passengers, Ram Mohan Naidu said that since December 2 till now, 7,30,655 passengers have been refunded and ₹745.7 million crowns were returned to passengers. Those who rebook their tickets with IndiGo Airlines before December 15 will not have to pay any additional charges.
IndiGo Airlines had a total of 9,000 bags of passengers, of which 6,000 bags have been returned to passengers and the remaining 3,000 bags will be delivered to passengers by tomorrow. The Union Civil Aviation Minister has assured the people of the country that air travel will become normal after December 10.
The minister said that strict action would be taken after the report of the commission of inquiry. “This will serve as a reference point for all other airlines as well, so that this does not happen again in the future,” Naidu told Decode.
Asked if IndiGo’s behavior was suspicious and why the airline had not reduced the number of flights to be able to handle the situation, the minister said it was an obvious question.
“The question obviously arises. When both the ministry and the DGCA were open to help IndiGo in all possible ways, why didn’t they talk to us? FDTL applies to all airlines, but why has such a crisis erupted only in some IndiGo operations? And that too after one whole month.”
PM Modi ‘led us’, says Civil Aviation Minister Naidu
Asked by Decode if PM Modi called him or asked for a report on the matter, Naidu said, “Yes, he asked. He guided us. He told us to focus on the passengers and do more than what is required for them.”
Referring to the FDTL rules, he said the Supreme Court had issued an order in April.
“Since eight months, we have been talking to the airlines, meeting them and offering explanations. IndiGo has been running its operations successfully for 20 years. But how could it have missed this? How did it not know what internal problems it was facing? The commission of inquiry will look into all these questions.”
Asked if it was a national aviation emergency, Naidu said, “No, it is a problem with one private airline, not a national aviation emergency.”
“Be it airport authorities, CISF or other airlines, every stakeholder has come with good intentions – to ensure that the brand image of Indian aviation is not affected and maintained. But IndiGo is an isolated incident due to its internal problems.”
The minister said that strict action will be taken against the airlines after assessing the issues.
Asked whether IndiGo has become too much of a monopoly and is blackmailing the government, the minister said they were not under any pressure from the airline.
“No. We are not under any pressure from IndiGo or overwhelmed by it. All airlines, big and small, are equal before the ministry. All rules apply equally to big and small airlines. In fact, we often cater to small airlines. So the competition is level and balanced,” noted the minister.
“No special treatment is given to major airlines.”
On the Narendra Modi government’s vision for the aviation sector, Naidu said, “We want more airlines to operate in the country, we want more players to enter the aviation sector. We have passed a law in parliament to make it easier to lease aircraft. But one bottleneck we see is the availability of aircraft. After COVID, the aircraft supply chain has been facing problems. Aircraft manufacturing companies, aircraft manufacturing, are now facing a slowdown, 170 ty.”
Asked whether the DGCA is behaving less like a watchdog and more like a postman, Naidu said, “I will not accept that it is behaving like a postman. When it comes to operational security, DGCA has not made any compromises, even after FDTL. But we will also do an internal review and make changes and strengthen DGCA further.”
Asked if the DGCA needs more teeth, the minister said it absolutely needs and will have more teeth. “However, the DGCA cannot manage the airlines and control their internal operations. That is the responsibility of the airlines themselves,” he noted.
Asked if Indian civil aviation was facing any conspiracy, the minister said, “We are looking at it from all angles, including the intelligence angle. We are focusing on upgrading technology and guidelines.”
