Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu has said that the operational crisis of IndiGo airline is going to be resolved soon and action against the airline is only a matter of time. Speaking to a news channel, the Aviation Minister said that despite more than a thousand IndiGo flights being cancelled, other airlines did not face any problem. He also said that after the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules came into effect in November, it became clear that the problem was at IndiGo’s side.
Naidu said that the congestion at the airports of metro cities has reduced and the queues of passengers stranded in the past days at most of the airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai have now ended. IndiGo will resume flights with limited capacity from tomorrow and the capacity will be increased gradually. He assured that passengers will not face any problems from tomorrow, although it may take a few more days for the airline to return to full capacity. Naidu also clarified that the Aviation Ministry and DGCA did not commit any negligence in not giving prior warning of such a situation.
The aviation minister said that after the implementation of the new FDTL rules, IndiGo’s flights were disrupted due to crew-related disturbances, leading to delays and congestion at major airports in the country. Speaking to news agency ‘ANI’, he said that due to the incidents at major airports, the Aviation Ministry gave some relaxation in FDTL rules to IndiGo so that the operations could become normal.
Naidu said, DGCA implemented new FDL rules from November 1. The ministry also maintained continuous communication with the airlines for at least six months. Earlier there was no problem regarding this rule. Other airlines like Air India and SpiceJet adapted their operations. But what happened was due to the mismanagement of IndiGo’s crew. We gave some relaxation in FDTL rules to IndiGo to ensure normalcy.
‘Committee formed to investigate, will take strict action’
He said that a committee has been formed to investigate this disruption, which will see where the mistake happened and who is responsible. Naidu said, those who created this situation will have to pay the price for it. We will take strict action on this. The minister said the immediate priority of the ministry is to normalize operations and provide necessary help to passengers.
‘Restoring normalcy is our priority’
He said, our priority is to return to normalcy and provide full assistance to the passengers. About five lakh people travel by air every day. We are keeping an eye on FDTL rules and network scheduling. We will investigate thoroughly and ensure that all airlines take precautions. There will be no compromise on security.
Naidu said the ministry had directed IndiGo to take necessary steps to ensure normal operations within two days. But delays continued to occur, so the airline was asked to cancel a large number of flights to reduce congestion at the airport. He said, initially when IndiGo flights were delayed, we asked them to take all necessary steps to ensure normalcy within two days. But there were delays yesterday also. Therefore, we asked IndiGo to cancel a large number of flights so that the hassle and crowd at the airport can be reduced.
