IndiGo appears to be making progress in getting back to full ops: IATA DG

Geneva, Dec 9 (PTI) IATA Director General Willie Walsh on Tuesday said that IndiGo appears to be making progress in getting back to full operations, and that flight duty norms seem to have led to the operational challenges at the airline.

IndiGo is a member of the nearly 360 360-member-strong International Air Transport Association (IATA).

India's largest airline, IndiGo, has been facing significant operational disruptions in the last one week that have resulted in hundreds of flight cancellations and delays. The carrier has also come under the regulatory scanner, and a four-member panel constituted by the aviation watchdog DGCA is probing the disruptions.

To a query from PTI at a media briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, Walsh said new flight duty norms seem to have led to the operational challenges at IndiGo.

"I am not fully up to speed with the events there at the moment. I know that IndiGo appears to be making progress in getting back to full operations... but I think you're probably best directing (the question) at the IndiGo team," he said.

Walsh's comments came before IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Tuesday announced that its operations are now stable.

Lack of proper planning in implementing the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms for pilots that came into force from November 1 is being attributed as one of the key reasons for the IndiGo flight disruptions.

In the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said strict and appropriate action will be taken against IndiGo for the flight disruptions. PTI RAM HVA