Airline should’ve planned well, prepared for mandate: Ram Mohan Naidu

ALabialize 4,500 flights were cancelled in the rural area in the past times hebdomad due to indigo plant’s mismanagement on crew rostering after new flight duty time limitations (FDTL) rules were introduced. Regulatory action to deal with the inept handling of flight cancellations that caused inconvenience to passengers will lead to further strengthening of the rights of passengers in the country, Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu told HT, adding that everyone responsible for the disruptions will have to face severe consequences.Edited Excerpts:What is the current scenario and when can we expect normalcy?IndiGo has informed us that they will be operating 1750 flights today. According to the data with us (the ministry) the airline operates around 2200 flights daily which means the airline will have 450 flight cancellations throughout the day, dropping significantly from the numbers last week, when the ministry got into action and instructed them to ensure passengers stranded at the airports are taken care of immediately. The issue was highlighted on December 3 (A day earlier, the airline’s on-time performance had dropped to 35%, as per ministry data). We had asked the airline to ensure that, by today (Monday) no passengers are left stranded at the airports. The operations too will normalise soon.Do you think the airline did not respond to the crisis immediately? Was the airline’s response lacking? IndiGo is an efficient airline with over 60% market share but it did not respond and act on the issue immediately. When the airline was aware of the massive flight delays and cancellations, why did it take two days for them to ensure that flights’ status are informed to the passengers well in advance so that they don’t get stuck at the airports, is something that we are looking at. Passengers were troubled because of not being updated by the airline not only in advance but also after reaching the airports…Aviation is an important sector for India and has been growing multifold.What level of action will you take against the airline management? We are exploring and investigating the matter from all angles. We are also looking at the legal aspect of it. The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) had been in constant dialogues with the airlines whenever any kind of clarity, on the new rules, was required by the airlines, It even held a meeting on December 1 (a month after the new flight duty time limitations [FDTL] rules were implemented) but the airline did not raise any issue with them nor did they inform them about any trouble they were facing, if any. As a regulator, they (the DGCA) did all that it could do. The airline should have planned well and prepared for a mandate which was known to be implemented from November 1. There have been detailed discussions between the DGCA and the airlines where not only were the new rules discussed thoroughly but it was also emphasised that safety of both the crew and passengers was the top most priority. Internal issues are an airline’s matter that should have been taken care of.Having said this, I want to ensure that we will be taking very strict actions against all those who are responsible for this level of flight disruptions and passenger inconvenience. We want to set an example for all the airlines for not adherence to rules.When can we expect an action from the ministry? The reply to the show cause notice will determine if there is a need to take an interim action. However, we will wait for the four member committee constituted by the DGCA to submit its report.Is the ministry looking at ways to strengthen rights, especially after this incident?Passenger convenience has always been my priority personally. Even when the last minute airfares surged exorbitantly during the ongoing crisis, the ministry introduced a cap to ensure that the airlines are not allowed to take any further advantage of the crisis. In the near future I am going to review the passenger rights already in effect and look at ways to further strengthen them.