IndiGo, which has a domestic market share of over 50%, has run into a slew of human resource problems. The airline’s technicians reportedly went on leave at at least two stations, Delhi and Hyderabad, to protest the poor pay hike. Fortunately, this time a mass holiday by technicians didn’t ruin the airline’s schedule, as it did earlier this month when its crew members suddenly went on mass leave and failed to appear for scheduled flights. Were. More than half of IndiGo flights scheduled for July 3 could not take off at all or if they could, it was after an embarrassingly long delay as the crew took mass sick leave.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the air safety regulator, has sought a report from the airline on mass no-shows of its crew. The airline operates over 1,600 flights daily and has a fleet of over 270 aircraft. According to its annual report, there were 23,711 employees in March 2021.
The July 3 debacle left no doubt that the airline’s operations department was unaware, and fully alert, of what was happening to the employees. Worse, it could not respond adequately to the crisis or a mass holiday could have been prevented by technicians over the weekend. It adds insult to injury.
Just last year, Indigo was recognized as one of the best in transportation by the prestigious Stevie Awards. This month’s debacle at IndiGo now calls into question all credibility.
Generally, any airline has a reserve set of crew to replace the scheduled crew to board a flight in case an emergency prevents the assigned crew from making it. Indian regulations state that on the Airbus-320, the way IndiGo flies, there must be one cabin crew per door, which means that each IndiGo flight must have at least four cabin crew. If two are sick, the airline can call reserve crew and prepare to operate the flight. Or, for more immediate purposes, the airline can swap employees with a later flight and save on delays (since delays manifold and cascade).
The manner in which the crew reported sick and sought leave in large numbers suggests that there are long-standing and unresolved issues related to pay, among other factors. Perhaps the flight schedule is the reason for dissatisfaction. Crew may be unhappy with the base they are stationed at. Or the status of allowances and dispute resolution is causing crew complaints. Whatever is creating dissatisfaction is not caught by the management and immediate masters. And it’s clearly not just the crew. Technicians have told that they too have complaints.
This is not the first time that IndiGo staff members are registering dissatisfaction with IndiGo’s work environment by absenting themselves. In April, the pilots planned a mass holiday after which the airline suspended some of them for violating the terms of employment and the company’s code of conduct.
How IndiGo handles the latest HR problem will be closely watched. If the management decides to tighten, it could backfire, as the airline could face a shortage of crew and technicians. If management ignores these incidents the problem will persist. Accepting the wage increase demands will increase the cost of the airline. That too at a time when aviation turbine fuel prices are at an all-time high, rising more than 120 per cent since June last year.
Mass sick leave could not have come at a worse time for the airline. Almost the entire top management team is exiting. IndiGo’s chief commercial officer, Willie Boulter, is due to leave this month. Other changes have been made to the top management. The airline’s whole-time director and chief executive officer Ronojoy Dutta is due to leave in September. A replacement has been announced, but it remains to be seen whether the president and chief operating officer, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, will remain in place long after Dutta’s replacement joins in September.
All this means that there is really no one in top management who can interact reliably with employees.
But the airline has to find effective negotiators fast. Because, in the aviation sector, job change opportunities are just too many, Air India, now operated by Tata, is conducting interviews for personnel and two new airlines Akasa and Jet Airways are about to start. It is a hot job market.
The recent developments at IndiGo are a lesson to all companies that regardless of their size and record for success, they need to have caring employees and grounded grievances.