Rahul Bhatia, Managing Director of InterGlobe Aviation, said IndiGo's operational punctuality has never been better following a period of significant disruption.

The recovery of India's largest airline is critical for regional travel stability, as the carrier manages a massive volume of daily flights across the subcontinent.

Speaking with CNBC TV18, Bhatia addressed the crisis that occurred in December. He said the issues were not the result of a single failure but were instead a confluence of factors [1]. These factors included the implementation of the Flight Data Transmission Layer (FDTL), a fleet upgrade, and the impact of volcanic ash [1].

Bhatia said the airline now operates more than 2,000 trips per day [1]. He said the machine now runs fairly smoothly, indicating that the systems causing the December instability have been stabilized.

The interview took place six months after the December disruption [1]. During the discussion, Bhatia said the combination of technical rollouts and environmental challenges created a unique set of pressures on the airline's infrastructure.

"The December crisis was a confluence of factors – FDTL implementation, a fleet upgrade, and volcanic ash – not a one‑off failure," Bhatia said [1].

Despite the earlier setbacks, the Managing Director said the current state of the airline's reliability is at an all-time high. He said the current operational flow is consistent with the airline's goals for efficiency and scale [1].

“Our punctuality has never been better.”

This admission highlights the fragility of high-volume aviation networks when multiple systemic changes occur simultaneously. By attributing the crisis to a mix of technical upgrades and external environmental factors, IndiGo is framing the December disruption as an avoidable 'perfect storm' rather than a fundamental failure of management or infrastructure.