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Govt slashes IndiGo’s winter schedule by 10% after massive operational meltdown
Aviation ministry reallocates routes to other airlines as IndiGo faces scrutiny over crew mismanagement, rising cancellations, and failure to operate approved schedules.
IndiGo currently operates around 2,200 flights a day, but the ministry has now ordered a 10% reduction, doubling the 5% cut that was announced just hours earlier.
India’s aviation ministry has moved to sharply cut IndiGo’s winter flight schedule after the airline’s severe operational breakdown left thousands of passengers stranded over the past week. Union Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu said the government will trim IndiGo’s routes and redistribute them to other carriers to stabilise the system.
IndiGo currently operates around 2,200 flights a day, but the ministry has now ordered a 10% reduction, doubling the 5% cut that was announced just hours earlier. This translates to roughly 216 fewer flights. However, as per media reports, the airline may voluntarily scale down even further, potentially flying only 1,800–1,900 services daily to prevent further chaos, implying nearly 500 cancellations every day.
Naidu said refunds amounting to ₹745 crore have already been processed for 7.3 lakh cancelled PNRs between December 1 and 8. Of the 9,000 checked-in bags that were left behind during the disruption, 6,000 have been returned and the remaining are expected to be delivered.
The ministry also summoned IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Tuesday for a detailed briefing on the crisis. Naidu said many of the cancellations stemmed from the airline’s internal mismanagement, from poor crew rostering under the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms, to inadequate communication with travellers, prompting a formal inquiry.
Recently, regulator DGCA had questioned IndiGo’s inability to operate its approved winter schedule of 15,014 weekly departures. The airline has been directed to reshape its routes, particularly on high-frequency sectors, and submit a revised plan by Wednesday. While IndiGo had sought to expand operations this winter based on higher projected aircraft availability, DGCA data shows the carrier was able to deploy far fewer planes than anticipated in October and November.
The disruption traces back to November 1, when the new FDTL rules kicked in, increasing the need for pilots. IndiGo raised its daily flight count by 6% without adequately scaling up crew resources, causing cancellations to snowball from manageable levels in November into a full-blown crisis by early December.
Other airlines have also seen minor schedule adjustments — Air India, AI Express and Akasa recorded modest reductions in their winter operations, while SpiceJet expanded its weekly flights by over 26%. However, IndiGo’s failures have raised concerns about regulatory oversight, with industry insiders questioning why the airline was cleared for an expanded winter schedule despite clear crew-availability risks under the updated FDTL regime.
IndiGo has attributed the meltdown to a “confluence of factors,” including weather-related congestion, seasonal schedule changes, minor technical issues, and the transition to the new roster norms — but the government appears unconvinced, pushing ahead with route curtailments as it continues its inquiry.
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