Air travel in India was thrown into chaos after an operational meltdown at the country’s largest airline forced it to scrap more than 1,000 flights on December 5 alone. Around half a million travellers were affected by the disruption.**media[391743]**Four days on, IndiGo’s operations were gradually returning to normal. But hundreds of services were still being axed daily as Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers struggled to get flight schedules back on track. India’s aviation regulator accused the company of “significant lapses in planning, oversight, and resource management.”The government launched an investigation into how a company that controls roughly two-thirds of the national aviation market came unstuck in such dramatic fashion. Industry experts pointed to a lack of pilots to keep IndiGo’s operations running smoothly when there are disruptions. The crisis had sent shares in IndiGo’s parent company InterGlobe Aviation Ltd down almost 17% as of Dec. 8, wiping $4.5bn off its market value. What went wrong at IndiGo? IndiGo blamed a combination of simultaneous problems — minor technology glitches, adverse weather, changes in flight schedules, congestion and a recent tightening of rules around the frequency and duration of mandatory rest breaks to minimise fatigue.**media[391738]**Pilots’ rosters are typically organised a month in advance, and the flurry in cancellations meant lots of IndiGo planes and crew were no longer in the right place to operate the scheduled services.The budget airline is known for a ruthless cost-efficiency mindset and rapid flight turnarounds. It offers more than 2,200 services per day, giving it significant economies of scale but also more potential points of failure.The new rules on mandatory rest periods mean airlines can no longer operate as many night flights unless they take on more pilots. The rule changes were in the works for two years, and government officials said IndiGo should have moved sooner to hire enough crew to account for the new arrangements before they took effect on November 1.**media[391739]**What was the fallout for passengers? The disruption began on December 3 and snowballed to a point where virtually all IndiGo services in and out of its main Delhi International Airport hub were scrapped. Poor communication from the airline meant travellers often didn’t know if their flights were cancelled or merely delayed. Crowds gathered at ticketing desks, check-in points and boarding gates and some unleashed their frustration by screaming at staff. Many lost their luggage amid the chaos.**media[391741]**Switching airlines was possible, but came with a huge cost. Air India seats were selling for 52,000 rupees ($578) per person for a one-way trip to Delhi from Mumbai — almost 10 times the average fare. Some IndiGo customers threatened on social media to sue the company.The desperation was especially acute for those stranded in smaller towns. At Kannur International Airport in southwest India, which operates barely a dozen flights per day, traveller Preksha Vivekanandan said she couldn’t find any available buses or trains.“I’m completely stuck and have no idea what to do next,” said Vivekanandan, who works for the UK’s National Health Service. How much does India rely on IndiGo? IndiGo took to the skies in 2006 with one Airbus SE A320 jet operating out of New Delhi, and has since grown to control two-thirds of the domestic market with a fleet of more than 410 aircraft.**media[391742]**The collapse of several airlines over the years due to over-ambitious growth plans and financial and supply-chain challenges underscores the difficulty of operating in the Indian air travel market. IndiGo’s meteoric rise was aided by the failure of rivals including Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and Go First, while financial troubles have weakened India’s third-largest domestic airline, SpiceJet.The second-biggest player behind IndiGo is Air India Group, the previously state-owned carrier now owned by the powerful TATA Group. Air India is undergoing an overhaul after decades of losses and under-investment. It has absorbed two other carriers — Vistara and AirAsia India — and its ability to challenge IndiGo is held back by its own sweeping transformation and a long wait for new aircraft. How has the government responded to the IndiGo crisis? The government briefly put the new limits on pilot night-flying hours on hold to help the carrier return to normal.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation demanded official explanations from IndiGo CEO Elbers and Chief Operating Officer Isidre Porqueras. “You have failed in your duty to ensure timely arrangements for conduct of reliable operations and the availability of requisite facilities to the passengers,” the DGCA told Elbers in a letter.**media[391740]**IndiGo responded to the letter, saying it was hard to pinpoint the exact reasons for the disruptions and asked for more time to conduct a thorough analysis. The aviation regulator said it was examining the response and that enforcement action would be taken in due course.Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu ordered an investigation into the disruption. “The inquiry will examine what went wrong at IndiGo, determine accountability wherever required for appropriate actions, and recommend measures to prevent similar disruptions in the future, ensuring that passengers do not face such hardships again,” he said.Rival carriers swiftly added more flights for stranded IndiGo customers, and fares jumped on the surge in demand.In response, the government stepped in to cap ticket prices at 7,500 rupees ($83.30) for journeys of up to 500 kilometres (311 miles) and 18,000 rupees for routes of more than 1,500 kilometres. It said the limits would remain in effect until the situation stabilised. State-owned Indian Railways said it was adding 116 coaches to its 37 trains and would run four special train services.
