The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday ordered IndiGo to reduce its flight operations by 5%, after the airline cancelled more than 2,000 flights last week due to poor pilot roster planning.
The carrier has been directed to submit a revised schedule by 5 pm on December 10.
According to the notice issued to IndiGo, the DGCA had cleared 15,014 weekly departures – a total of 64,346 flights for November – under the winter schedule. IndiGo, however, operated only 59,438 flights, with 951 cancellations recorded over the month.
The airline on Monday said its operations had stabilised. In a statement, Indigo reported a sharp improvement in on-time performance (OTP) to 91%, recovering from last week’s disruptions. It said cancellations had been minimised through network optimisation and that customers were informed in advance. The airline added that daily departures have climbed from around 1,650 to more than 1,800, restoring full network coverage.
Meanwhile, Union Parliamentary and Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed concern during an NDA parliamentary meeting over the widespread inconvenience caused by IndiGo’s cancellations.
The PM, Rijiju said, emphasized that while rules and regulations must be followed, passengers should not face unnecessary hardship or inconvenience.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that flight operations were “rapidly stabilising,” noting that IndiGo’s daily departures had climbed from 706 on December 5 to 1,800. He reiterated that “safety in civil aviation remains non-negotiable,” and confirmed that IndiGo is being held accountable through supervised refunds, baggage tracing, and passenger support.
Naidu also said the DGCA has issued show-cause notices to IndiGo’s senior leadership and warned of strict action.
He attributed the disruptions to the airline’s “internal rostering issues” and stressed that “revised flight duty time limitations are being implemented to prevent pilot fatigue.”
“IndiGo had assured compliance with these norms and confirmed its preparedness to undertake its winter schedule,” Naidu said. “Despite this, prima facie it was observed that internal rostering disruptions led to large-scale cancellations, causing inconvenience to thousands of passengers,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
