NEW DELHI: Under fire for its handling of the IndiGo crisis, govt said on Monday it would set an “example” for other airlines with “very, very strict action” against the budget carrier once the probe into the massive flight disruptions is complete. The unprecedented disruption was caused by an “internal crisis” in the airline, Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said in the Rajya Sabha Monday.Also, with the duopoly situation – Air India Group and IndiGo – being blamed for making the bad situation even worse, Naidu said India needs more airlines. “We have envisioned the demand to be growing at such a rate that we want to have more airlines in the picture… India today has the capacity of five big airlines. We are talking about two airlines, but the capacity, the demand that India is creating, we need to have five big airlines,” he said, adding that this was “the time to start an airline in India”. Naidu said govt wants “more pillars” in the industry to counter concentration and build resilience. “There is so much growth that is happening. So let us all encourage more airlines to come into this industry along with govt,” he said. “We are not taking this situation easily. We are conducting an inquiry… Revised flight duty time limitation (FDTL) was introduced after an April 2025 HC order. Of the 22 guidelines, 15 were implemented on July 1 and remaining seven on Nov 1. Multiple consultations were held with all stakeholders, including IndiGo, and rules had to be followed without any compromise on safety,” Naidu said.The DGCA “has been in continuous discussions with airlines since FDTL came fully into force, and had granted limited exemptions based on operational variations and safety assessments”, he said. The crisis erupted “almost one whole month” after the Nov 1 implementation and IndiGo did not flag any imminent issues during a meeting with the ministry on Dec 1. “This is a day-to-day operation, something that IndiGo should have maintained… We care for pilots, crew and passengers. We made it clear to all the airlines. IndiGo was supposed to manage the crew and roster. Passengers faced a lot of difficulties. We are not taking the situation lightly.”Current situation:IndiGo is fast returning to near normal, with the airline saying it expected to operate over 1,800 flights on Monday. “We have optimised our operations and managed to reduce the number of cancellations which are being notified to customers in advance. Our on-time performance has improved to 91% across the network.”Rs 827 crore already refunded, and the rest is under process for cancellations up to Dec 15, 2025. Over 4,500 bags have been delivered to respective customers, and we are on track to deliver the rest in the next 36 hours,” IndiGo said.The Union aviation ministry said about 5.9 lakh PNRs for travel between Dec 1 and 7 have been cancelled and refunds of about Rs 570 crore have been issued.
