‘Indi-No-go’, reminded me of the time when my daughter Ananya was scheduled to travel by Go Air and the flight kept getting delayed, after almost three-four hours when her patience wore thin, she called to say that she has christened the airline “Go Last”, instead of Go First as they claimed. Indigo too took pride in ensuring punctuality of their arrivals which we all have experienced, but now that too is not something you can take for granted. None had expected the situation to touch its nadir, the way this shemozzle was unleashed on the hapless passengers, it was just shameful.
The 6E has lost its sex appeal but Indian aviation passengers do not have much of a choice, with 61% market share, they rule the Indian skies literally. No wonder, Indigo is ‘indig-nant’ and chose to follow this path to make DGCA eat a humble pie and roll back the instructions or put it in abeyance temporarily. Incidentally the word Indigo traces its roots from the Latin word ‘Indicum’, which means ‘Indian’, so it is true blue Indian literally. Indigo though has a chequered history in the subcontinent with the Indigo revolts of the 18th century Bengal and a similar action in Champaran Bihar in 1917 became famous as Gandhiji’s maiden successful non-violent protest in India post his South Africa success.
Indigo’s meteoric rise from a humble beginning in 2006 to the commanding heights boasting of the single largest fleet of aircrafts with any commercial airline in the world has been miraculous to say the least. They have been running a profit making venture, when many a Goliath have bitten the dust, be it Kingfisher, Jet, Sahara or even Air India which is yet to salvage some of its lost glory. Indigo demonstrated how a ‘low cost’ ‘no frills’ airline can be run profitably, where Vijay Mallaya and Naresh Goyal failed, taking over this budget airline business from Deccan and Sahara respectively and landing up in such a mess driving them to bankruptcy. Airline business in India is an unforgiving venture but InterGlobe has proved all the pundits wrong.
Having grabbed the lion’s share this ‘indig-enous’ airline took it upon itself to prove how Indian it really was by taking the system and the government for a ride. To be fair to DGCA the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations were issued two years back and were to be implemented by 1st Jun 24 itself. Indigo was nonchalant and treated the issue in the most lackadaisical method by simply ignoring it, knowing fully well that it was the passengers whose suffering will force the govt’s hand. Finally the govt did give in, but the govt is not at fault just for succumbing to this blackmail but also because it was under their watch, both Kingfisher and Jet aircrafts were wasted out on the tarmacs. As Satyam and Yes Bank were bailed out by the govt, why couldn’t the assets of these airlines be similarly put to some use. Monopoly in any business is a surefire recipe for disaster and exploitation of the consumers. The govt watchdogs, need to monitor this aspect stringently.
Could the govt have mitigated the passenger’s plight and called the bluff of Indigo, I think it was possible, as Govt should have been seeking reports on the preparations for implementation of the guidelines, which would have given the DGCA a fair idea of the situation. Secondly, they could have pressed into service some of their IAF transport aircrafts to ferry the passengers on some of the principle circuits, thus helping to ease the situation, of course billing InterGlobe for the expenses incurred. They should have also stepped in to check the profiteering resorted to by the hospitality and aviation industry in this crisis, looting the passengers. May be it would have sent a message across to the general public that the govt cares and acts and is not a silent bystander. I understand IAF resources are precious but desperate times call for desperate measures, the Armed Forces have stepped in and rescued stranded passengers during natural calamities, as also in international crises. Be that, as it may, Indigo needs to get its act together, recruit more staff and follow the guidelines which I believe are following international norms. The airline should be made to pay for their dereliction of duty in not informing the passengers and not making any alternate arrangements, mere apology will not suffice.
16 thoughts on “INDIGO MESS”
This was a complete disaster. What Indigo needed was yogi’s bulldozers standing outside its headquarters. But alas, those tough measures are for the smaller fries.
By conceding to the airlines, DGCA is playing with safety of air travellers. The international rules are based on some tested guidelines. An overworked pilot has more chances of making mistakes.
An employee from 70 hours a week Mr Murthy’s company might make an error in coding with just the financial consequence, but a tired pilot is flying a ticking time bomb.
Hi Suyash!
A well written piece ! This is the beginning of the end of Indigo. Its arrogance and brazenness will cost it dearly. Since aviation has proved to be a challenging domain in India since decades, thus instance has given the government an opportunity by legislation to reconstruct the aviation sector and permit no monopoly of any airline.
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Threat of Nationalization may work!!
Clearly, and sadly some folks deserve a swift kick in their pants!
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I don’t think AF wud hv been able to handle the chaos or help, the scale was enormous
There was no alt plan. Poorly handled. Blackmailed. Capitulated.
There were no directions to other airlines not to hike up prices
Some countries ensure no monopolisation of a sector by one company, so that this kind of thing dies not happen
The Govt is equally to be blamed.
Once the Political parties accept the electoral bonds from these corporates, how can we expect any action from the Govt for imposing the penalty.
Why was the Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA sleeping.
Such lapses are likely to be continued even in the future.
Suyash. Why only blame Indigo; it appears that entire travel and hospitality industry along with regulators out here are trying to poison the Indian society and bring bad name. Is it reflection of our family and societal values???
Well put, Suyash.
Indigo has always been thoroughly analytical and realistic (while agressive) in conducting all aspects of its business. How can it pretend shock over a rule, of which they surely knew well before it was published two years ago?
So it’s difficult to believe that they had their eyes wide shut, not anticipating the catastrophic consequences of ignoring the regulator, of undermining flight safety.
There’s surely more to this sordid state than meets the media eye.
The secondary effect of Ticket cost ? Injustice to public
If you get kickbacks, how can you kick the back….
That’s in nutshell is the story of In-di-go behaving in a rogue manner….mujhko chintz nahi. The concerned have been paid. All this drama….DGCA is the director paid by Indigo…
Regulations in India is a joke. Be it DGCA or FSSAI. There is no dignity to human lives, safety, or time. I find this attitude apalling specially after living few years in Europe now. I wish Indian Govt. gets its act together and start treating Indian citizens in a humane manner. Whatever Indigo did is decades of mismanagement by our own governments. We put artificial barriers to entry of new players in a free market. There should be a reason for Indigo enjoying this kind of monopoly on our skies. Totally unacceptable & highly irresponsible of our own government. A nation being kept captive by an airlines – shameful.
Very timely n apt article highlighting the system failure both in DGCA/Aviation Ministry and Indigo Airlines.
This is a wonderfully worded piece by you sir. The signature satire as always carries a deeper message. The read also gets one pondering on the aspect of essential public services (air travel which is heavily paid for by the users themselves) being fully privatised. The need for sovereign alternative ( other than the armed forces , if we dare seek) now re-emrges as an essential balancer and a necessary step, for the nation for seek for, and the government to seriously consider.
Indian Railways as a viable provider and BSNL are both case in point. Alas the latter is loosing it’s national user base in another essential sector i.e telecommunications. A public services Policy Vs Profit conundrum.Profit leads the score board for now. Pray tell.
Public takes a beating and the faulty policy laughs. Very poor state if affairs.
Hope situation improves.
in-efficient people on management /Board of directors
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