Govt probing Indigo’s stable int'l ops amid domestic meltdown

THE GOVERNMENT IS EXAMINING WHETHER CREW ROSTERING OR COMMERCIAL CONSIDERATIONS CONTRIBUTED TO THE IMBALANCE

- Neha LM Tripathi

The government is examining how IndiGo's international operations remained relatively unaffected even as its domestic network collapsed in the first week of December as the airline failed to keep up with new crew rostering rules aimed at reducing pilot fatigue and improving safety, officials aware of the matter said.

Between December 1 and 9, IndiGo cancelled 4,290 domestic flights, while it scrapped only 64 international flights, showed data submitted by the airline to the government, which HT has reviewed.

On December 4, two days after the scale of the problem became apparent, IndiGo cancelled 611 domestic flights but only 14 international services. At the peak of the disruptions on December 5, the airline cancelled 1588 domestic flights, about 79% of its domestic schedule. The same day, only 35 international flights —11% of the overseas schedule — were cancelled, the data showed.

IndiGo, on average, was scheduled to operate around 2,000 domestic flights and 300 international flights daily between December 1 and 9, according to the data.