IndiGo crisis wasn’t in the skies, it was in the leadership cabin

Mumbai, Dec 09

IndiGo crisis wasn’t in the skies, rather it was in the leadership cabin. There are three things that stood out in the entire episode.

First, employees were left alone to face furious customers.

No leader should ever let that happen. If you don’t stand by your people in a storm, don’t expect them to stand by your customers in the sun. Customer experience collapses the moment employees feel abandoned.

Secondly, in any crisis, honesty is the only strategy that works. This time, the communication wasn’t transparent.

When leaders hide the full picture, years of goodwill can disappear overnight. A crisis can earn trust, but only if you tell the truth.

Thirdly, the belief that “we are too big to be ignored” has ended more companies than competition ever has. Customers always have a choice.

And if they don’t, they will create one.

We shouldn’t watch the Indigo crisis like spectators. This is a reminder for every leader to build their own crisis blueprint.

Because crises will come, when they do, your response becomes your reputation.

There is more to business than profits. There are people, trust, and how you show up when it matters most.

Talking to Bizz Buzz, Jitendra Bhargava, an aviation industry expert says, “An airline, which has been running professionally for 19 years, was profitable, had been growing drastically, how come they do blunder in such a big way, that is a Million Dollar question.”

The airliner has laid down its senior management, including its CEO. When everything was available on the public domain about the change in aviation norms, why did it not implement?

If you thought wrongly that you will persuade DGCA for a further year-long extension in implementation of the new norms, then you just tell me who thought of it, asks Bhargava.

You (IndiGo) knew that you don’t have required no of increased pilots as per the new norms, still the airline was busy expanding its operation, he said.

When crisis came in the form of DGCA’s turning down its proposal, then the airline should have said that it was cancelling its flights voluntarily. It would have helped the airline to intimate its passengers about the cancellation of flights well in advance, accommodate them on Indigo’s own alternate flights, request other airlines to accommodate their passengers.

The moment the crisis happened, the airliner disappeared from the scene. There was no crisis communication plan with the airliner.

Another aviation industry expert, Mark Martin says, “DGCA wanted the airliner to comply with flight duty time regulation. Now, if the airliner complies with it then it will have to go for 60 per cent increase in crew cost.”

However, it wanted to run the same situation with less number of pilots.

Indigo has lost travellers’ confidence and integrity.