Speaking at Agenda Aaj Tak, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu addressed the ongoing Indigo Airlines crisis, terming it a case of 'gross mismanagement'. The Minister stated, 'The mistake lies at IndiGo and their management.' He rejected claims that the government was 'arm-twisting' the airline, emphasizing that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is prioritizing passenger safety. The transcript also highlights that the DGCA has formed an oversight panel, with officials stationed at Indigo’s corporate headquarters to monitor refunds and operations. Indigo has announced travel vouchers worth 10,000 rupees for passengers affected by cancellations between December 3 and 5.
00:00Now, India's largest airline, Indigo, continues to face intense scrutiny for the mess it has created over the last 10 days.
00:08CEO Peter Albers, along with top officials, met the DGC authorities.
00:13They were summoned to provide detailed report on the airline's recruitment and rostering plans and operational aspects.
00:20In order to compensate for the chaos, since the start of this month, Indigo has announced a travel voucher worth 10,000 rupees for severely impacted flyers,
00:28whose travel was affected between 3rd and 5th December.
00:32This amount is in addition to the compensation Indigo will be rolling out for those passengers whose flights were cancelled 24 hours before departure time.
00:42The DGCA has formed an eight-member oversight panel to oversee the airline's operations.
00:48Two senior officers will now sit at Indigo's corporate office, tracking cancellations, refunds, on-time performance, crew deployment and passenger assistance in real time.
00:58The airline insists it did not engineer the crisis, it says.
01:02The board, it says, was fully involved from day one.
01:05There was no attempt, they say, to influence government rules.
01:08The disruptions, they argue, were not deliberate.
01:11However, there are some allegations that are untrue, that Indigo engineered the crisis, that we tried to influence government rules, that we compromised safety, that the board was not involved.
01:31These claims are incorrect.
01:35Indigo has followed the pilot fatigue rules as they came into effect.
01:38We operated under the new rules throughout, both in July and in November.
01:46We did not attempt to bypass them, nor did we do anything that negatively impacted our unblemished track record of safety.
01:55The disruptions of last week did not happen because of any deliberate action.
02:01They happened because of a combination of internal and unanticipated external events, including minor technical glitches, scheduled changes linked to the start of the winter, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system, and implementation of an operation under the updated crew rostering rules.
02:27This is simply the truth.
02:29Clearly, this combination of events pushed our systems beyond their limits.
02:34There has also been a claim that the board was not engaged.
02:41This is not correct.
02:43The board has been closely involved with this matter for many, many months.
02:49Both the board and the board Risk Management Committee have received relevant information from the management on the implementation of the rules.
03:02Following the first day of the disruptions, we held an emergency board meeting and set up a crisis management group.
03:11Since then, board members have been in continuous contact with the management team.
03:17The crisis management group has been meeting every single day.
03:22Aviation Minister Rab Mohunaydu spoke in detail about the Indigo crisis at Agenda Architak.
03:29He acknowledged the extent of the crisis, squarely blamed Indigo for the chaos and vowed to ensure such a situation is never repeated.
03:37I have to ask you this.
03:44I have to ask you this.
03:46I will start from the beginning.
03:47What happened?
03:48That the Civil Aviation Minister was finished at night at 4 and 5 December.
03:54What happened?
03:56That in one day, 1600 flights of Indigo got cancelled within 24 hours.
04:03And so many people were disappointed.
04:07First, you will say sorry.
04:09Who is accountable?
04:12Who is accountable?
04:13What happened in that day?
04:15First of all, I would like to say that the crisis of Indigo is the gross mismanagement of Indigo.
04:22The internal crew rostering system was right.
04:25The internal crew rostering system was right.
04:26According to them, they had compliance with new guidelines or any safety norms.
04:32They had compliance with compliance with them.
04:35They had to go right.
04:37So, they had the internal crew rostering management in their internal crew rostering.
04:42They had to go right.
04:43So, due to that, a tumbling block, operations third, fourth, fifth, we had the cancellations
04:49or delays at airports.
04:51They got to see everything.
04:52So, definitely, the first thing that I would want to make it very, very clear is that the
04:56mistake lies at Indigo and their management.
04:59How they have done the roster?
05:01How they have managed the operations?
05:03So, that is the first mistake that they have done.
05:06So, you are putting the blame on Indigo.
05:08But, sir, if I ask if the DGCA was asleep, there were 750 disruptions in November.
05:17Many flights of Indigo itself were cancelled.
05:20You see, what was the Ministry of Civil Aviation and, more importantly, the DGCA, which is the
05:25regulator doing?
05:26I am not saying that Indigo does not have responsibility, but your, and more importantly,
05:34DGCA, what was in the month of November, that suddenly, December 4th, Indigo is not observing
05:41the flight duty time limitation.
05:44See, Rajdeep ji, one thing, what we were doing in November, and the fact that you have taken
05:49November comes from the point that November 1st, FDTL norms, NIAWALI guidelines, amal huye.
05:54After November 1st ke baad, jo chote chote cancellations unke ho rahe te, we were continuously
06:00in discussion with them.
06:01And then, there was a good phase within November when there were no cancellations at all.
06:06They were operating well within the average cancellations that usually happen, and then
06:11suddenly, it was definitely shocking to us also, because, let me also place the facts
06:16that on 1st of December, we have had a meeting through DGCA with Indigo regarding the FDTL norms,
06:23where they wanted clarifications.
06:25We have given them the clarifications, but they never mentioned that so-and-so issue is
06:30there with us.
06:31So, again, I would like to highlight that this was totally Indigo's mistake.
06:35We were quite watchful.
06:36We were taking care of all the operational oversight.
06:40We were ensuring that things were normal, and we gave them multiple opportunities.
06:44Had there been an incident like this supposed to be happening, you can come to us, discuss
06:49with us, and do it.
06:50Why have they not done it on 1st of December that was there?
06:53You see, I'll tell you what the speculation is.
06:57Or you want us to daily monitor internal operations of Indigo?
07:01How they are doing it?
07:03As a regulator, we are looking after the safety.
07:06What is the job of Indigo here?
07:08We are the regulator here.
07:10We give safety norms so that the pilots have a good safety looked after.
07:15Their fatigue is looked after.
07:16Why did we bring the FDTL norms?
07:18Because we care about the safety.
07:19We care about the safety of the crew.
07:21We care about the safety of the passengers.
07:23So, that is our intention.
07:25And then, when we decide that we are going to bring it,
07:28it is our responsibility to talk to the stakeholders.
07:31We have talked to the airlines.
07:32We have talked to everyone.
07:34Everyone is following it.
07:37And Indigo also said that we are complying with it, and we don't have any problem.
07:42Even then, you want us to look into their roster every day and take over the operations,
07:46then there is no point having their senior management or anyone at Indigo.
07:49Let us handle all the airlines in the country itself.
07:52Do you agree with that?
07:54I am asking you directly.
07:56What are you saying that, suddenly, when you get up in the morning,
07:593 or 4 December, you were taken by surprise?
08:02That the 1600 flights, which on the last Friday canceled last Friday,
08:07were you taken by surprise?
08:09Or you thought that something will happen, but we thought that Indigo will manage it.
08:16Did Indigo take the government of India and the ministry for a ride?
08:20This question is direct.
08:22This is a question that I am still in the process of answering.
08:33Because here, the tussle is not between the government and the airlines.
08:37It is not between me and the Indigo.
08:39There are people involved.
08:41There are people who are relying on these airlines,
08:43who want to travel across the country from point A to point B.
08:46It is my responsibility to take care of them also.
08:49It is my responsibility to normalize the operations,
08:52look at the stability of the operations.
08:54And then, I am doing an inquiry on Indigo also,
08:57how this has happened.
08:58And the question that you asked,
08:59it is utterly shocking that suddenly, on one day,
09:01that this situation happens.
09:03Even though two days back, they have met DGCA regarding FTTL,
09:06and they don't even mention about this.
09:08So was it deliberate?
09:09What do you think that Indigo thought that
09:12the ministry will not do anything with DGCA?
09:14We will be okay.
09:17Was it that?
09:18Or were you taken, I come back to it,
09:20were you taken for a ride by Indigo?
09:22I have said both of them first.
09:24The answer is in the process of writing.
09:27We will give it the process.
09:29We will give it the process.
09:30And we will give it the process,
09:31that someone else,
09:32or someone else,
09:33or someone else,
09:34or someone else,
09:35asked for a ride by Indigo.
09:36It will never happen again.
09:37It will never happen again.
09:38It will never happen again.
09:39It is.
09:40It will never happen again.
09:41It is.
09:42I am,
09:43I am,
09:44I am the minister of this country,
09:46taking care of this aviation sector,
09:48and it is my responsibility to ensure that this doesn't happen.
09:51And the reason why it has happened,
09:53is to be found out also.
09:55And that is why we have put an inquiry behind this.
10:03And we have more news coming in at this point in time.
10:05DGC officials start monitoring the operations,
10:08refunds at the airline headquarters.
10:10Remember,
10:11the DGC is now actively involved in the operation of Indigo Airlines.
10:15Essentially,
10:16it is the officer from the government,
10:19who is going to monitor the day-to-day activities of the Indigo Airlines.
10:23And DGC officials have started this doing,
10:26doing this already.
10:27They are monitoring the operations.
10:29They are looking at the refunds,
10:31as promised by the airline,
10:32to the aggrieved passengers.
10:34It is not just Indigo that is going to be doing this alone anymore.
10:37The government has decided that the regulator will have its own officials,
10:42who are going to micromanage this,
10:45to ensure that the process is very seamless.
10:48Indigo flight prices taking an interesting tanya,
10:51with the regulator sending its own officials,
10:54to monitor day-to-day operations of the Indigo Airlines operations,
10:59refunds to the tune of crores at this point in time,
11:03given the kind of cancellations that we have seen over the last 10 days or so.
11:09All of this is going to be monitored very closely by the regulator.
11:14And that's the reason why officials of the DGCA are monitoring these operations,
11:20refunds at airline headquarters.
11:23Sitting in the office of Indigo Airlines,
11:27are officials now from the DGCA,
11:30who are monitoring the Indigo operations.
11:32Amit Bhardwaj is getting in more.
11:35Amit, this is really unprecedented, isn't it?
11:38Government officers sitting in the office of a private airlines company,
11:43sitting and monitoring the situation to ensure that it's seamless.
11:47Because the crisis was unprecedented,
11:49the response has also been rather unprecedented, isn't it?
11:52It's never happened before.
11:54Absolutely right, Sneha.
11:56You know, by the very first outlook of it,
12:00you have a private company,
12:03and at the corporate headquarters of this private company,
12:07there are four government officers,
12:10not only two government officers,
12:11there are four government officers,
12:13who will be monitoring every possible aspect in terms of the operation of Indigo.
12:18So, it has nothing to do with how they are operating their business on the other side.
12:22It's about ensuring that Indigo craft fly, they fly on time,
12:28and there are proper pilot crew in place in order to tackle operations as well as whether the refund process is being done properly,
12:37there are complaints coming up, how they are handling it.
12:40Each of these angles will be taken care, rather monitored by the oversight team of the DGCA.
12:46And two of eight member teams, officers will be sitting in the Indigo corporate office in Gurugram,
12:53and there will be also filing reports every day by 6 pm.
12:58So, senior officials of the DGCA have been also asked to stay at the corporate office of Indigo.
13:03So, definitely, in the very terms of it, this is unprecedented, the way the Civilization Ministry has acted.
13:12First, the curtailment of 10% on Indigo's total operations,
13:18and now you have four officers who will be monitoring the operation.
13:22That's right, monitoring the whole situation and micromanaging in that sense,
13:25also looking at grievance redressal mechanisms and observing that very closely.
13:31I'm going to leave with that for the moment, Amit Bhardwaj, with those details.
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