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IndiGo crisis reveals bigger problems beyond India’s aviation sector
The unseemly collapse of the airline’s services highlights the risks of a market where competition is stunted and choice limited.
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The sheen around IndiGo, which fleetingly became the world’s most valuable airline in April, has come off.
PHOTO: AFP
Andy Mukherjee
India’s latest aviation fiasco – about 3,000 flights cancelled since last week – has exposed the ill effects of leaving two-thirds of a fast-growing market in the hands of a single player and allowing it to become not just too big to fail, but also too big to tame.
InterGlobe Aviation, which operates IndiGo, has told the regulator that the mass cancellations were a result of multiple factors, including implementation of stricter regulations on night flying and weekly rest for pilots. Combined with technical glitches and the switch to a winter schedule, the mandate resulted in an acute shortage of crew.
