IndiGo, India’s preferred carrier, operating close to 2000 daily flights has applied proactive strategies and technology to minimise disruptions this monsoon season.
Monsoons can be extremely disruptive to flight operations. The heavy rainfall and strong winds can cause flight delays, cancellations, and diversions. The visibility is often poor, making it difficult for pilots to land or take off safely. The runways and taxiways can become flooded, leading to the closure of the airport. Lightning strikes are a concern, which can hamper flight operations. The monsoon season increases bird menace around the airport. All these factors combined can lead to significant interferences in flight operations, causing inconvenience to passengers and financial losses to airlines.
IndiGo is committed to offering on-time, hassle-free operations always and is taking the following steps to minimize disruptions during this monsoon season.
Proactive measure to manage internal factors
Proactive inspections of critical aircraft systems: IndiGo understands the importance of ensuring passengers' safety and comfort. The airline takes a proactive approach to inspections of critical aircraft systems, with a dedicated team meticulously ensuring the serviceability of systems such as ice and rain protection, wheels and brakes, navigation, supplemental braking like spoilers and thrust reversers, etc.
Maintenance Prioritization & availability of spares: IndiGo takes a proactive approach to maintenance and repairs, giving special emphasis to monsoons. The airline conducts a pragmatic review of critical spares to ensure sufficient stock availability and proactive maintenance planning to address monsoon-related issues before they escalate. IndiGo's team works tirelessly to identify and procure the necessary spare parts, minimizing downtime and ensuring that its aircraft are always in top condition.
Constant Monitoring and Collaboration: IndiGo establishes effective collaboration between maintenance teams, pilots, and meteorological experts during monsoon operations to ensure passenger safety and comfort. This collaborative workflow enables the airline to identify potential issues and address them promptly, minimizing disruptions and delays. IndiGo's team conducts frequent inspections and monitoring of critical systems to detect and rectify any weather-induced maintenance concerns.
Regulatory Compliance: The airline recognizes the importance of regulatory compliance and takes additional measures to ensure monsoon-specific maintenance procedures are followed.
Data-Driven Decision Making: IndiGo utilizes data analytics and historical maintenance records to optimize maintenance strategies and mitigate the effects of the monsoon season. Proactive predictive maintenance procedures are in place to predict failures that will impact operations during monsoons. By utilizing data-driven decision making, IndiGo can identify potential issues before they escalate, reducing the risk of disruptions during the monsoon season.
Crew Training and Support: IndiGo offers crew training that goes above and beyond regulatory requirements. It is the only airline allocating one hour of additional practice time for pilots in simulated training. The airline also has a unique Duty Pilot concept, where senior pilots are available on-call 24*7 through a dedicated hotline for the benefit of the crew.
Proactive measures to mitigate external factors and their impact on operations
MET Team
IndiGo's commitment to passenger safety and comfort is reflected in its team of highly qualified and experienced professionals in the IGO MET department.
This team constantly monitors weather conditions across the network. IndiGo's meteorological experts utilize hourly weather reports, terminal aerodrome forecasts, and weather warnings to keep flights running smoothly in all weather conditions.
The airline recognizes the importance of accurate and timely weather information, which is why it places a strong emphasis on meteorological services. By taking these measures, IndiGo aims to provide a reliable and hassle-free flying experience for its passengers, even during challenging weather conditions.
Crew Control Team
Due to waterlogging in the city, crew gets delayed in reporting to the airport causing delays in operations.
Based on the weather forecast, OCC coordinates with crew control team to reduce delays in reporting by:
- Accommodations of cockpit & cabin crew at nearby hotels
- Plan additional sets of cabin & cockpit crew at airport
- Plan crew & staff on incoming flights itself, to make turnaround rotations
Fuel Planning
Meteorological services aid in fuel planning. By studying METARS, TAFORS, Sat Images, and inputs from IGO MET and OCC, help plan increased hold fuel for metros where adverse weather is expected or predicted. This has reduced the number of diversions from metros in the past. Additionally, OCC provides extra fuel for taxiing out to avoid gate returns due to congestion on the ground caused by traffic or weather. This helps us avoid adding to departure congestion at BOM.
Recovery
With a focus on recovery, the airline has a dedicated team that controls and executes disruptions, curtails the schedule daily, and plans aircraft rotations meticulously to avoid cancellations of international flights. IndiGo recognizes the importance of timely communication with passengers, which is why it notifies them through SMS, IVR calls, and emails in case of delays over 30 minutes, and communicates cancellations through these channels. The airline team also reviews steps for reducing cascading impact to ensure efficient recovery.
IndiGo prioritizes safety and comfort in all its efforts, recognizing that even the smallest issue can cause inconvenience for passengers. By taking these measures, IndiGo aims to provide a seamless and hassle-free flying experience for its passengers, even during challenging situations. The airline's efforts to prioritize passenger safety and comfort demonstrate its commitment to providing exceptional service.