- Civil Aviation Minister Naidu rejects Rahul Gandhi's monopoly claim on IndiGo crisis
- Government aims to increase competition and reduce aircraft leasing costs, he says
- Rahul Gandhi blamed government's "monopoly model" for IndiGo's flight cancellations
Amid the political blame game over the IndiGo chaos, Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu has hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's "monopoly model" charge.
The minister has said this is not a political matter but a public issue. "The government has always tried to bring in more competition. We also introduced legislation to reduce leasing costs, allowing more aircraft to join fleets. I have always said competition should increase. The demand for aviation in the country is rising. So, this is an opportunity for people to enter this sector, and the government wants this too. It would be better if he (Gandhi) spoke with complete information," he said.
Earlier, Gandhi blamed the government for the IndiGo crisis, which led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights daily and left thousands of fliers stranded. "IndiGo fiasco is the cost of this Govt's monopoly model. Once again, it's ordinary Indians who pay the price - in delays, cancellations and helplessness. India deserves fair competition in every sector, not match-fixing monopolies," the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said on X.
Over the past several days, a crew shortage has led to IndiGo cancelling hundreds of flights daily. This has left passengers stranded in airports across the country.
At the centre of the nationwide chaos is IndiGo's failure to implement the new flight safety norms in line with international standards and aimed at addressing pilot fatigue, a key factor behind aviation disasters. The aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, announced the norms in January last year and started a phased implementation, but IndiGo failed to manage its crew as per the revised roster, leading to a complete breakdown of its large-scale operations. The DGCA has now paused the implementation of the new norms, and IndiGo's operations are limping back to normalcy.
