Anwesha Dash, Pune
From a 13-hour flight delay to the pilot getting assaulted, flyers eating on the tarmac to getting fined around Rs. 1.20 Crore; IndiGo airlines has had an eventful few days and to add to that another Pune bound flight got delayed by 3 hours because the pilot received the message of his grandmother passing away. After this succession of operational issues, IndiGo CEO Peter Elbers finally gave out a statement.
13-hour flight delay
There have been a barrage of flight delays from IndiGo airlines. At times the delays have been announced just a few hours before the boarding time. But on 14th January, an IndiGo flight from Delhi to Goa, informed the passengers of a 13 hour delay after the passengers had boarded the plane and were anticipating take off.
While co-pilot Anup Kumar announced this development, one of the passengers, Sahil Kataria lost his temper and assaulted Kumar. In a video that has gone viral, Kataria can be heard allegedly threatening the co-pilot to either fly the plane or open the gates. Although netizens have condemned the violent act, many are of the opinion that locking passengers inside a plane for 13 hours is inhuman as well.
IndiGo airlines have responded by calling the behaviour of the passenger “unruly” and are deciding to put the flyer on a no-fly list for 30 days.
Flyers eat on Tarmac
A Delhi bound flight was diverted to Mumbai amid weather disruptions. This diversion led to a delay of several hours. As a result of the hassle, passengers hurriedly got out of the plane after it landed and sat on the tarmac. Many flyers even had their dinner on the tarmac of Mumbai airport.
The dinner took a costly turn when the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) fined IndiGo airlines more than Rs. 1 crore and around 60 lakhs on Mumbai airport for “violations” of security standards.
IndiGo airlines has apologised for the violation and has claimed that they are looking into the issue as to why passengers were allowed to sit and eat on the Tarmac.
Patna to Pune flight delay
A Patna to Pune IndiGo flight got delayed for 3 hours but not only for fog or any weather related challenges. As per reports the first officer received a message that his grandmother passed away and given the unstable emotional condition chose not to fly keeping in mind the safety of the passengers and the already present visibility issues due to fog.
The plane had left its parking bay, but was driven back to its original place given the inability of the pilot to fly the plane.
CEO Peter Elbers speaks up
After a week of numerous disruptions and unfortunate events, Peter Elbers, the CEO of IndiGo, gives out an assuring statement that operations will “return to normal by next week”. The whole network of IndiGo is going to evaluate and review how “they can do better”. Elbers blamed the intense fog and bad weather in Northern India for the flight delays. Even though further delays for 2000 flights are to be expected everything will be returning to normal as per the CEO.
Due to all the delays IndiGo airlines’ On Time Performance has dropped down to a low of 43.7%. Passengers and crew alike have had to face many issues as a result of the continuous delays and flight cancellations.