Trouble on the tarmac

It is not IndiGo but Indian aviation that has become too big to fail

- K. SUNIL THOMAS

DECEMBER 7 WAS supposed to be special for Indian aviation. The world's fastest growing domestic airline market was all set to mark World Civil Aviation Day with events, seminars and awareness campaigns about the importance of civil aviation to a nation's social and economic development.

Instead, it turned out to be an on-ground demo of aviation's importance, as market leader IndiGo upended the industry.

In the first week of December, 5.9 lakh tickets were cancelled and lakhs of passengers were stuck in airports, unable to go home, to work, to that all important meeting or interview, or to have a last look at someone beloved. In a viral clip on social media, a couple attended their wedding reception online, because their flight was cancelled. An entrepreneur said the Goa hotel he booked for a ₹7-crore destination wedding was empty because guests were stuck at airports across the country.

IndiGo attributed the chaos to “multitude of... unforeseen operational challenges”, though its reluctance to adhere to the government's new flight duty time limitations (FDTL) was soon called out as the real culprit. The rules were notified about two years ago, reducing pilot working hours to international safety standards. It meant all airlines would have to recruit more pilots. But Indigo, which operates six of every 10 domestic flights, apparently decided to flex its marketshare muscle rather than recruit more pilots which would have hiked its operational expenses. The result? A nation in upheaval.

“The government would set an example with very, very strict action (against IndiGo) once the probe is complete,” Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu told Parliament. A show-cause notice has been issued to the airline by the authorities and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Aviation has summoned IndiGo's bosses next week. There are talks of hefty penalties as well.

And then what? Business as usual until the next 'turbulence'?