India’s biggest airline is being forced to fly significantly less this winter. The civil aviation ministry late Tuesday evening directed IndiGo to cut 10% of its domestic schedule – double the 5% reduction ordered earlier in the day – days after mass cancellations left passengers stranded across major airports.
IndiGo operates more than 2,200 flights a day. The revised order effectively takes about 216 flights out of its operations. But officials say the airline may eventually fly 1,800 – 1,900 flights a day—thus up to 500 cancellations—as it tries to regain control over its operations.
A system under stress
Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said that this cut was necessary to “stabilise the airline’s operations” and prevent further disruption. “IndiGo would be continuing to cover all its destinations but with a reduced schedule,” he said in a statement on X.
The move comes after a week of heavy delays and cancellations caused by IndiGo’s inability to match the expanded winter schedule with available aircraft and crew.
Regulatory documents also show that the airline was cleared for 64,346 flights in November but managed 59,438, recording 951 cancellations.
What went wrong?
Review by DGCA underlines various stress points:
IndiGo had planned for the winter operations assuming availability of 403 aircraft, but it operated with only 344 in November.
It increased flights for the winter season by 6%.
New Flight Duty Time Limitations, which took effect on November 1, increased pilot-rest requirements and decreased available manpower.
Cancellations surged in early December because of a mismatch between scheduling and crew availability.
By Tuesday night, the ministry had concluded that IndiGo had “not demonstrated the ability to operate its approved schedule efficiently.”
Earlier in the day, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers had said operations had stabilized. The ministry disagreed.
IndiGo has been asked to submit a revised schedule by Wednesday 5 pm.
It has also modified the existing show-cause notice issued to the airline, and the matter is now under “periodic review”.
It has also asked IndiGo to reduce flights, particularly on high-density, high-frequency routes. The airline has been advised not to operate sectors where it is the only carrier, so that disruptions for passengers could be minimum.
Air India might benefit from the shake-up.
The cut frees up much-needed airport slots for rivals. Airline officials estimate Air India may be granted 60-70 more flights to beef up its domestic operations during the peak winter season.
As per the winter schedule, it operates 611 flights a day.
ALSO READ: IndiGo Refund Crisis Exposes Deep Operational Failures
Accountability and refunds
The civil aviation minister said while addressing Parliament, “No airline will be allowed to cause such hardship to passengers due to planning failure.
He confirmed that:
DGCA has issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo’s senior leadership. A thorough enforcement investigation is underway. Refunds for all flights cancelled until December 6 have been processed. IndiGo said it faced a perfect storm of technical glitches, weather disruptions, winter schedule transitions and the implementation of new FDTL norms. The regulator, however, said that the crisis was at its core an issue of insufficient operational planning.
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