For a long time, Indigo Airlines has been incredibly profitable as it runs a machine that is lean, mean, and nasty. They believed in stretching every material and human resource to the maximum so as to reduce unit costs and stay profitable. That was a practice that stood them in good stead over the last 20 years. In this period, Indigo not only emerged as an incredibly profitable airline, but also garnered about 67% market share of the domestic aviation market. When DGCA brought in the new pilot rest rules, it suddenly cut the capacity of Indigo by 25%, which created this cancellation crisis in the first place. 

The latest regulation of pilot hours was obviously aimed at cutting the Indigo monopoly to size. After all, when you have 67% market share, the business become the challenge for the regulator. In the case of Indigo, the DGCA had to retract its new rule purely because the implementation was badly thought through in the first place. The reality today is that Indian aviation market is very tough. You are exposed to price cuts, big-bulge rivals, bad infrastructure, delays in aircraft deliveries, etc. Amidst this chaos, the only way to run an airline profitably is to run a tight ship. That is what Indigo has been doing, and they have been doing it quite successfully. DGCA must have thought up Plan-B. 

There are a lot of things you can say about the Indigo model. However, you must also admit that the best business models are lean and mean models. That is exactly what the Indigo model is all about; stretching every inch of resources to the hilt. That is the only way to sustain an airline business in India and the regulator really cannot blame the airline for this. Today, India needs more airlines like Indigo. That is what will create competition. If the airline industry continues to operate the way it is doing currently, Indigo will continue to enjoy near 70% market share. Unless other airlines are able to think and work like Indigo, one airline will continue to call the shots in aviation. 

There is no gainsaying the fact that the Indigo crisis has caused untold inconvenience to Indian flyers. However, that was a chaotic situation created by putting the cart before the horse. Today, the only model to run an airline profitably in India is the Indigo Model. Any other type of business model will only be skimming off the surface. India needs good infrastructure, more airports, more aircraft, and better regulation if it has to support a profitable aviation industry. Indigo is doing the best it can under the current scenario, by making each of its resource squeak to the limit. It is time for a fresh look at the aviation business, if we really want it to be the engine of India’s growth!