Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Tuesday said that the Centre has slashed IndiGo's flight schedule by 10 per cent in an effort to help stabilise airline operations and reduce cancellations. He said while abiding by curtailed schedule, IndiGo will continue to cover all destinations as before. Rammohan Naidu said that IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers was summoned to the ministry to provide an update, and he "confirmed" that 100 per cent of the refunds for flights affected till December 6 have been completed.
IndiGo will continue to cover all its destinations as before, says Naidu
"A curtailment of 10 per cent (in IndiGo's flight schedule) has been ordered. While abiding with it, IndiGo will continue to cover all its destinations as before," Naidu said in the statement.
He said the civil aviation ministry considers it "necessary" to curtail the overall IndiGo routes, which would help in stabilising the airline's operations and lead to reduced cancellations. Starting early this month, IndiGo cancelled thousands of flights, causing severe hardship to lakhs of passengers and there was complete chaos at airports.
Indigo has been instructed to comply with all directives
Naidu also said that Indigo has been instructed to comply with all the directives of the ministry, including fare capping and passenger convenience measures, without any exception.
Earlier in the day, the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered IndiGo to cut its planned flights by 5 per cent on high-capacity routes during winter, as it looked to bring some order at India's biggest airline, which cancelled thousands of flights nationwide after failing to plan for tighter safety regulations.
The DGCA in the December 8 order, asked IndiGo to submit a revised schedule by Wednesday. As part of the winter schedule for 2025-26, the airline has been operating over 2,200 flights per day.
The latest order is part of a suite of actions by authorities that followed IndiGo, which controls over 65 per cent of the market share, cancelling more than 4,000 flights since December 2 that left tens of thousands of passengers stranded, upending their vacation plans, important meetings and weddings.
DGCA, which previously issued a show cause notice to IndiGo's chief executive and chief operating officer to explain the disruptions, has set up a four-member panel to probe the lapses.
DGCA issues fresh notice to IndiGo
In a fresh notice, the DGCA said that IndiGo's winter schedule shows that the airline has increased its departures by 9.66 per cent from last year, while the same relation to its summer schedule is set to rise by 6.05 per cent.
"However, the airline has not demonstrated an ability to operate these schedules efficiently," the notice said. "Therefore, it is directed to reduce the schedule by 5 per cent across sectors, especially on high-demand, high-frequency flights, and to avoid single-flight operations on a sector by IndiGo,” it said.
In the Lok Sabha, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said no airline, however large, will be permitted to cause hardship to passengers through planning failures and non-compliance with regulations.
"Strict and appropriate action will be taken," he said and added that the DGCA has already issued notices to IndiGo and that the airline is being held fully accountable for the chaos caused by its internal crew-rostering failures.
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