Crisis in the sky: Recent issues with IndiGo point towards larger crises with India's aviation sector

Every winter, the skies of North India turn unusually gloomy—disrupting normal operations of aircraft and trains alike. This time, as dense fog engulfed the areas in and around the national capital region of Delhi (Delhi-NCR), cracks in the idea of a resurgent aviation sector began to show. While fog-related disruptions have impacted flight operations—ripples of which are felt across the country—experts point towards deep-rooted issues that have made the situation worse for passengers and industry stakeholders alike.

InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of market leader IndiGo, was recently slapped with a fine by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). The company, which has a 54% share of the market, has now found itself in the proverbial eye of the storm, especially after a disgruntled customer assaulted its staff. It faced the wrath of the authorities after videos emerged on social media of passengers from one IndiGo flight rushing out of the aircraft and sitting on the tarmac in Mumbai, eating their food on the spot. The incident occurred when a Delhi-bound flight from Goa was diverted to Mumbai due to lack of visibility.

While the airline has put the blame on the dense fog, customers took to social media to describe how airline staff had been unco-operative from the beginning, which made the situation worse.

That, however, didn’t stop the authorities from issuing show-cause notices to both IndiGo and the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), followed by penalties from BCAS of Rs 1.2 crore on IndiGo and `60 lakh on MIAL. The DGCA imposed a `30-lakh penalty on MIAL. The DGCA notices stated, both “Indigo and MIAL were not proactive in anticipating the situation and making the appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers at the airport.” To contain the damage, the DGCA had to intervene by issuing a detailed SOP to airlines, asking them to consider cancelling flights that are expected to be delayed beyond three hours.

IndiGo is not alone, though. Air India, from the stable of diversified conglomerate Tata group, has also drawn attention of the authorities for all the wrong reasons. Recently, the DGCA had to issue a notice to Air India after finding the airline at fault for not having enough oxygen stored in one of its long-haul flights.

“Pursuant to the receipt of a voluntary safety report from an airline employee alleging safety violations of flights operated by Air India on certain long-range terrain critical routes, DGCA conducted a comprehensive investigation into the alleged violations,” it said. Air India, however, has challenged the notice. “We disagree with the order issued by the DGCA. The issues raised were thoroughly examined by Air India along with external experts concluding that there was no compromise on safety, whatsoever. We are studying the order in detail and will review the options available to us including our right to appeal as well as taking it up with the regulator,” said an Air India spokesperson. DGCA, meanwhile, imposed a fine of Rs 1.1 crore on Air India and Rs 30 lakh on SpiceJet.

As these issues grow, a question looms large: what is going wrong with Indian aviation? According to experts, while fog-related disruptions are unavoidable, lack of trained pilots, aircraft and shortage of staff at airports are some of the key issues that need to be addressed. In many cases, passengers are not informed beforehand about the change in flight timings due to foggy conditions as airline operators and airport staff have been unable to co-ordinate. Adding to the woes is the unavailability of properly trained pilots. And then comes the imbalance between the growing number of air passengers and the lower number of aircraft. “The number of average flights per month has gone down between the pre-Covid times of early-2020 and January 2024. While the number of passengers has surged by over 10%,” says Jitender Bhargava, aviation consultant and former executive director of Air India.

The recent challenges struck IndiGo at a time when it was facing capacity constraints. Starting this quarter, it is already in the process of grounding an additional 35 aircraft due to a powder metal issue with the Pratt & Whitney engines. These would add to its already big bench of 40 grounded aircraft. According to analysts at Geojit Financial Services, it is likely to impact IndiGo’s available seat kilometres (ASK) in the near future. “The Pratt & Whitney (P&W) metal powder issue will start to impact the overall ASK in the near future. Management has indicated that the company will access the secondary market for the mitigation of engine-related issues,” it noted.

According to IndiGo, however, it is taking measures to compensate for the reduction in the number of aircraft. “We are actively in talks with P&W to address the engine supply situation. As of December 15, we have a total of 341 planes in our fleet. To further expand our capacity, we have taken a wide range of measures including leasing and retaining of aircraft. We have been consistently adding new planes to our fleet, with almost one plane coming in each week. This steady influx of new capacity provides us with a natural hedge against some of the AOGs (aircrafts on ground) caused by the powder metal issue”, the airline has noted in a statement.

It remains to be seen if this will be enough.

@arndutt