With the immediate recovery in place, Elbers said the country’s largest carrier is now focused on three priorities: strengthening resilience, conducting a root-cause analysis of the breakdown, and rebuilding systems to prevent a repeat.
IndiGo’s shares were trading at Rs 5,076/- a piece as of 11:40 am, up 1.92% on Thursday.
Parliametary panel rapps IndiGo, DGCA over ‘evasive’ responses
A parliamentary panel examining the spate of flight disruptions that paralysed air travel earlier this month has expressed dissatisfaction with the explanations offered by IndiGo and aviation regulator DGCA, with members finding their responses “evasive and unconvincing”, ET had reported, citing sources. on Wednesday.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, which took up the issue amid widespread public complaints over mass cancellations and delays, sought to establish accountability for the chaos that unfolded across airports nationwide. However, the panel found that both the airline and the regulator appeared to deflect responsibility, relying largely on technical explanations rather than addressing passenger hardship or systemic lapses, sources added.
Chaired by JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha, the committee also flagged a breakdown in communication within the civil aviation ecosystem. Officials from the civil aviation ministry told the panel they became aware of the scale of the disruption only through media reports, raising concerns over the absence of real-time coordination between airlines, the regulator and the government during the crisis.
IndiGo was represented at the nearly four-hour meeting by its chief operating officer Isidro Porqueras. Civil aviation secretary Samir Kumar Sinha and senior DGCA officials were also present. Executives from Air India, Air India Express, Akasa Air and SpiceJet attended the session as the panel sought a comprehensive view of the disruptions that affected thousands of passengers.Committee members said they took serious note of the inconvenience and uncertainty faced by travellers during the episode, which brought large parts of the domestic aviation network to a halt. To piece together a clearer sequence of events, the panel questioned officials from the ministry, DGCA and airline operators together, sources said.
Despite the sharp questioning, the committee refrained from fixing responsibility at this stage. It has decided to await the findings of an ongoing inquiry ordered by the civil aviation ministry before determining accountability for the disruption.
IndiGo reportedly defended its actions before the panel, attributing the cancellations to a combination of system-related challenges, including a software issue that required rebooting, along with weather-related disruptions at certain airports.
