New Delhi: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Thursday admitted that the airline is going through severe operational turbulence, saying immediate priority remains to stabilise services and restore punctuality, even as achieving that “is not an easy target”.
In an internal message to employees, Elbers admitted that IndiGo, India’s largest carrier, has fallen short of delivering a satisfactory travel experience in recent days amid widespread disruptions that triggered passenger frustration.
The airline has been reeling under a wave of cancellations and delays, with more than 300 flights cancelled on Thursday alone and many others running late through the day.
“These past few days have been difficult for many of IndiGo’s customers and colleagues,” Elbers told staff, adding: “We serve close to 380,000 customers a day and want each of them to have a good experience. We could not live up to that promise these past days, and we have publicly apologised for that.”
Elbers said the crisis was fuelled by a combination of operational challenges that escalated simultaneously — minor tech issues, schedule adjustments, adverse weather, increased congestion across the aviation ecosystem, and the rollout of the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.
“Given the size, scale and complexity of our network, these disruptions grow large immediately and require interventions on multiple levels and dimensions. For that, a lot of work is being conducted right now,” the CEO said.
“Our immediate goal is to normalise our operations and bring punctuality back on track in the coming days, which is not an easy target,” he added.
Elbers assured staff that the airline is deploying resources across teams to stabilise schedules and prevent further cascading delays, even as efforts continue to address the underlying triggers.
(IANS)
