IndiGo CEO Admits Service Failures Amid Massive Flight Disruptions and Recovery Efforts

The IndiGo CEO admitted that normalizing operations would be challenging despite efforts to resolve the current crisis.

New Delhi:

IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers has openly acknowledged the airline's failure to deliver on its customer experience promise as the carrier faces massive operational disruptions, including over 550 flight cancellations on Thursday alone.

In a letter addressed to IndiGo staff on Thursday, Elbers apologized for the widespread delays and cancellations, explaining that multiple factors had created a cascading effect severely impacting their operations.

"These past few days have been challenging for many of our IndiGo customers and colleagues. We serve approximately 380,000 customers daily and aim to provide each one with a positive experience. Unfortunately, we failed to meet that commitment in recent days and have publicly apologized for this shortcoming," Elbers stated in his communication.

The CEO referenced the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations, designed to ensure adequate rest periods for pilots and crew, which IndiGo has identified as a significant contributor to their operational disruptions.

"A combination of several operational challenges - including minor technology issues, schedule adjustments, adverse weather, increased congestion across the aviation ecosystem, and implementation of the newly introduced FDTL regulations - created a negative compounding effect on our operations," he explained to employees.

Addressing customer concerns, Elbers assured that the airline deeply understands passengers' frustrations and is making every effort to resolve the issues promptly.

"We feel our customers' concerns and anxieties deeply. We're actively reaching out to affected passengers and assisting them in every possible way to alleviate their discomfort," he emphasized.

Cautious Optimism

Earlier that day, IndiGo officials met with representatives from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the aviation regulator currently investigating the carrier's delays and cancellations. In his letter, Elbers expressed appreciation for his employees' efforts during this crisis and thanked airport authorities and regulators for their support.

"I want to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to all colleagues in operations, including pilots, cabin crew, Operations Control Centre staff, engineers, customer support, digital teams, frontline airport personnel, and their leadership teams who are working tirelessly to manage the situation, minimize disruptions, and restore operational stability as quickly as possible," he wrote.

While the CEO expressed confidence that operations would eventually normalize, he acknowledged the significant challenges ahead.

"Given our network's size, scale and complexity, these disruptions quickly magnify and require interventions across multiple levels and dimensions. Considerable work is currently underway to address these issues. Our immediate priority is normalizing operations and restoring punctuality in the coming days, which remains a difficult target to achieve," Elbers stated.

"We've faced difficult situations before, but we've consistently transformed challenges into successes, demonstrating our resilience, strength, and unity. This situation will be no exception... Together, as one unified team, we will overcome this challenge and emerge stronger than before," he concluded.