INDIGO'S NEXT FLIGHT PATH

Stabilising operations, restoring trust, and recalibrating growth will be on the radar for the airline that is too big to fail.

- BY MANU BALACHANDRAN

IT WAS ONLY a glimpse, a trailer of sorts, into the nightmare that would befall if India's largest airline ever folded up, without a warning.

And in that, there are also some lessons for the country's 350 million-odd flyers. That emotions, and emotionally charged statements—often made in the aftermath of a crisis—are usually forgotten within months, or even days, when you are just too big to fail.

For IndiGo, the $22-billion airline behemoth, December has been something of a nightmare. Quite often, with the northern parts of India seeing dense fog, flight operations across airlines become chaotic during the month. But what unfolded for IndiGo in early-December seemed more like a mismanaged affair.

It all began on December 2, when IndiGo started cancelling flights even as passengers experienced inordinate delays, sometimes up to seven hours. Then, by December 5, it spiralled out of control in ways even IndiGo hadn't fathomed. By that day, over 1,600 of its scheduled 2,200 flights had been cancelled, turning air travel into an absolute nightmare. India's key airports were jammed by exasperated flyers, some of whom vented their anger on employees of the Gurugram-based airline, forcing the central government to act swiftly.

Soon enough, the government capped air fares and even publicly rebuked the airline and its management for the situation. Officials of the airline were called in for meetings and issued show-cause notices, even as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) put on hold a policy that sought to increase rest for pilots. The crisis, which saw as many as 5,000 flights being cancelled by the airline till December 12, was caused by the implementation of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), aimed at ensuring adequate rest for airline crew.