IndiGo Removes Jason Herter As Head Of Operations Control Centre For December Flight Crisis

The country’s biggest airline operator, IndiGo, has appointed Rohit Rikhye as the head of the Operations Control Centre (OCC). Rikhye will take over the charge from Jason Herter, who has been removed from the position in view of the December flight crisis, according to a report by The Times of India.

However, the publicly listed aviation firm has not filed any letter with the stock exchanges about the decision.

The decision to remove Herter has come after the civil aviation regulator DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) recently asked the airline to take action against the OCC head.

The regulator had also asked the company not to appoint Herter to any significant position in the future. According to sources cited in the media report, Rikhye was considered the most suitable candidate for the responsibility, as he has prior experience handling duty rosters.

“Captain Rohit Rikhye, currently Chief Pilot (Standards, Quality Assurance and Operation Safety), has been appointed the new head of OCC. He is someone from flight operations and has handled rostering. He is aware of what was causing concern to pilots in rostering and will ensure that those issues are resolved. He was considered among the most suitable for the OCC job,” sources were cited as saying.

Notably, the December flight crisis at IndiGo occurred after the DGCA changed its rules for duty and recovery norms to allow more time for pilots to rest.

The company could not plan the duty rosters of its pilots properly, leading to massive flight cancellations and chaos at airports across the country during the last month of last year.

The company’s focus till now was on bringing the situation back to normalcy. As the situation is now under control, more action is expected against the people responsible for the flight crisis following the removal of Herter, sources cited in the media report said.

The Indian civil aviation market is dominated by IndiGo with a market share of over 60%. It is followed by the Tata Group-owned Air India.