INDIGO MESS

 ‘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.