IndiGo cuts 400–500 flights as DGCA clamps down on winter schedule

IndiGo has announced steep reductions in daily flights, slashing 400–500 services in an attempt to stabilise operations after weeks of nationwide disruption. India’s largest private carrier will now operate 1,800–1,900 flights a day, down from the 2,300 it previously scheduled.

The move came within hours of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation ordering the airline to reduce its approved winter schedule by 5% — a cut of nearly 115 daily flights — after the regulator concluded that IndiGo had “not demonstrated an ability to operate” its sanctioned 15,014 weekly departures “efficiently”.

The DGCA has specifically directed the airline to trim operations “across sectors, especially on high-demand, high-frequency flights, and to avoid single-flight operations on a sector by IndiGo”, and to file a revised schedule.

Regulatory officials said further cuts remain possible if the airline fails to show sustained stabilisation.

IndiGo admits ‘planning gaps’ as CEO says operations normalising

In a recorded video message, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said the airline’s operations are now “fully stabilised which means the flights reflecting on our website are scheduled to operate with an adjusted network.”

Passengers will receive alerts 72 hours in advance for cancellations, officials said.

Elbers added that “as of yesterday, we are back to flying to all the 138 destinations in our network and our on-time-performance (OTP) is also normalised.”

Behind the crisis, the airline had admitted to the DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation that its disruptions were caused by “planning gaps and a misjudgment” in estimating pilot availability under revised fatigue management rules for night flying. For the first time, the government capped the number of night landings per shift at two, responding to rising concerns over crew exhaustion.

IndiGo’s own submission revealed a shortage of 65 captains, with 2,357 available against the 2,422 required to comply with the new guidelines. The shortfall triggered a cascading breakdown in flight operations from late November.

Government steps in as passengers face mass cancellations

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu told Parliament that the airline is being held “accountable” for the severe operational crisis. He said IndiGo’s services were stabilising rapidly, while stressing that “no airline, regardless of its size, would be allowed to cause hardship to passengers.” He also underlined that other carriers were operating normally and airports across the country were reporting no crowding or distress.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing MPs at the NDA Parliamentary Party meeting, voiced concern over the widespread cancellations, saying “rules and laws are to correct the system and not to harass the people.”

Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, recounting the PM’s remarks, told reporters: “During the NDA parliamentary meeting, the prime minister told NDA MPs that people should not be troubled and face inconvenience.”

IndiGo returns luggage, processes refunds as crisis eases

In a separate statement, Elbers emphasised that the airline had prioritised customer recovery efforts after the meltdown. He said IndiGo was “back on its feet” and “lakhs of customers have received their full refunds, and we continue to do so on a daily basis.”

The airline CEO said, “Most of the bags stuck at airports have been delivered to your homes... We also continue to address customer needs... As of yesterday, we are back to flying to all our 138 destinations in our network... We continue to work in full cooperation with the govt... We have started to focus internally on what has led to this, lessons to be learnt and how to emerge stronger.”

IndiGo now faces the DGCA’s mandatory 5% reduction in winter schedules — around 108 daily or 751 weekly cancellations — and must demonstrate operational consistency to avoid further regulatory tightening.