Amidst ongoing flight disruptions, the government is weighing the option of cutting IndiGo’s flight schedule by 5%, with plans to redistribute these time slots to other carriers. IndiGo has acknowledged the issues, attributing them to recent duty requirements and changes in their winter travel timetable.
NEW DELHI: IndiGo may have its schedule cut by 5% and the same – roughly about 110 daily flights – could be given to other airlines that have the resources to add capacity. A livid government is mulling incremental cuts to the schedule starting with 5%, followed by another 5% in coming days if need be, say sources, adding that other actions are also being considered in the wake of the severe disruptions caused by flight cancellations.Meanwhile, a “profusely apologetic” IndiGo has in its reply to the DGCA’s show-cause notice blamed a combination of five factors, including new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) rules and winter schedule-related changes, for its massive flight disruptions.The airline said given the scale of its operations, it is “realistically not possible to pinpoint the exact cause(s)” in the time given. It sought more time for a “comprehensive root-cause analysis”, citing DGCA’s manual that allows a 15-day response time.
DGCA may scale down IndiGo ops to make room for others
DGCA is in the process of examining the response and enforcement action as deemed appropriate will be taken in due course,” the aviation ministry said regarding the responses submitted at 6.01pm Monday by CEO Pieter Elbers and COO Isidre Porqueras, who is also the accountable manager.Given the public anger at aviation authorities, it remains to be seen whether IndiGo will be granted more time. The DGCA could now scale down IndiGo’s flights in proportion to its crew strength and make the slots available to other airlines depending on their resource availability. Apart from a hefty financial penalty, the top executives, who are approved by the DGCA, including the airline’s accountable manager (the COO), may face action. The airline, too, may either seek resignations or sack key people seen as responsible for the huge mess.The airline has attributed the disruption to the “compounding effect of multiple factors which coincided in lesser or greater measure” in an “unfortunate and unforeseeable confluence”. It listed these as minor technical glitches; schedule changes linked to the start of the winter season; adverse weather conditions; increased congestion in the aviation system; and implementation of and operation under the updated crew rostering rules (FDTL phase II) that came into force on Nov 1, 2025.”IndiGo notes they had been engaging with the DGCA regarding challenges in implementing FDTL phase II and were seeking variations, exemptions or extensions. The disruptions began in early Dec when the compounding factors resulted in a lower on-time network performance, which affected crew availability,” the aviation ministry said.IndiGo termed the Dec 5 large-scale cancellations, when over 1,000 IndiGo flights – almost half its daily schedule – were affected, as a “drastic measure” of “rebooting” the network “to recover stranded customers, ease airport congestion, and reposition crew/aircraft”.Meanwhile, the four-member DGCA panel probing IndiGo disruption, headed by joint DG Sanjay Brahamane, could summon CEO Pieter Elbers and COO Isidre Porqueras. This panel has been mandated to pinpoint the root cause of this disruption and will examine manpower planning, rostering and IndiGo’s preparedness to implement the new FDTL rules.
