IndiGo board preached governance, but failed to walk the talk
IndiGo's board failed to prevent chaos by not ensuring compliance with new pilot rest rules (FDTL), despite knowing about them, leading to mass cancellations and governance concerns, with critics citing a lack of foresight, management failure to plan for roster changes, and poor passenger communication as key failings, while the board remained publicly silent during the crisis. This suggests a failure in corporate oversight, where management prioritized operational flexibility over regulatory adherence, creating systemic risk and damaging passenger trust.
Proxy advisory firm IiAS said the ongoing issues at InterGlobe Aviation raise concerns over the board's oversight and the company's culture towards regulatory compliance and customer satisfaction. The firm, which advises institutional investors on governance, criticised Indigo for assuming it can afford customer apathy due to its dominant position in the airline industry. It said the fallout of the episode on the company's reputation will be enduring, though "not a complete loss". This attitude should not be acceptable to a board of experienced aviation professionals and bureaucrats. The board has allowed the situation to get out of hand: a failure of risk management, stakeholder management and basic operational excellence.
On the other hand, DGCA is probing whether the airline caused the disruptions to avoid abiding by the new pilot rest rules. IndiGo chairman Vikram Singh Mehta has denied the chaos was deliberate. He said the board was constantly involved in tackling the issue and that things were back on track much before expected.
