The civil aviation ministry has ordered IndiGo to cut its operations by 10% across sectors due to its inability to efficiently manage winter and summer schedules.
Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the reduction aims to stabilise operations and reduce widespread cancellations.
Although the DGCA initially ordered a 5% cut, the ministry doubled it to at least 10%, while IndiGo will continue serving all its current destinations.
The civil aviation ministry has directed IndiGo to reduce its operations by 10% across all sectors, citing the airline’s inability to efficiently operate its winter and summer schedules. Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the decision was necessary to stabilise IndiGo’s network and bring down the surge in flight cancellations witnessed over the past week.
Naidu added that despite the cut in overall operations, IndiGo will continue to fly to all its existing destinations. “While abiding with it, IndiGo will continue to cover all its destinations as before,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued an order asking the airline to curtail its operations by 5%. However, the ministry later doubled the cap to a “minimum 10%” due to ongoing operational constraints faced by the carrier.
The decision comes amid widespread travel disruptions, with thousands of passengers affected by large-scale flight cancellations. The ministry said the temporary reduction in routes is aimed at restoring predictability and improving service reliability for travellers.
Earlier, the airline informed the DGCA that its recent wave of flight cancellations stemmed from a “compounding effect” of multiple operational challenges rather than a single trigger. In its detailed response, signed by the airline’s CEO and COO, IndiGo cited technical issues, winter-schedule transitions, adverse weather, air-traffic congestion and new FDTL Phase II crew-rostering norms as simultaneous pressures that disrupted services.
The airline said the convergence of these factors in early December led to crew shortages and declining on-time performance, prompting the large-scale cancellations on December 5 to stabilise operations and reposition aircraft and staff. IndiGo maintained that it is “not realistically possible” to isolate one cause and has sought the full 15-day window to submit a comprehensive root-cause analysis.
IndiGo added that refunds and passenger support were provided as per norms and said performance indicators have since improved. The DGCA is examining the reply and may take enforcement action if required.
The airline has attributed the mass cancellations to adjustments required under the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms, introduced nationwide in two stages on 1 July and 1 November. The updated rules mandate 48 hours of weekly rest, extend overnight duty periods, and cap night landings at two instead of six.
