Aviation regulator DGCA has directed IndiGo to trim its Winter Schedule 2025 by 5 per cent, citing the airline’s inability to operate the number of flights it had been cleared to run and the continuing
wave of cancellations that has disrupted operations for more than a week.
The carrier has also been asked to submit a revised schedule by 5 pm on December 10.
In a formal notice issued on December 8, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said it reviewed IndiGo’s approved Winter Schedule 2025 “against the backdrop of wide disruptions due to massive cancellations of flights”.
The letter mentioned that significant gaps between the airline’s cleared capacity and its actual operations were found.
According to the order, IndiGo had been sanctioned 15,014 weekly departures, totalling 64,346 flights for November 2025, under the Winter Schedule.
However, operational data submitted by the airline showed it operated 59,438 flights during the month, with 951 cancellations recorded.
The regulator also highlighted that despite being permitted a 6 per cent enhancement in its schedule for Winter 2025 compared to the Summer Schedule 2025, IndiGo was not flying the aircraft it had projected.
“The airline could operate only 339 aircraft in October 2025 and 344 aircraft in November 2025,” the notice stated, although approval had been granted based on an indicated fleet of 403.
“From the above, it is inferred that Indigo has increased its departures by 9.66 per cent in comparison to Winter Schedule 24 (WS 24) and by 6.05 per cent in relation to Summer Schedule 25 (SS 25). However, the airline has not demonstrated an ability to operate these schedules efficiently,” the DGCA mentioned.
Consequently, IndiGo has been instructed “to reduce the schedule by 5 per cent across sectors, especially on high-demand, high-frequency flights, and to avoid single-flight operations on a sector.”
The action comes amid a deepening operational crisis for the country’s largest airline.
According to news agency PTI, IndiGo cancelled around 180 flights from Bengaluru and Hyderabad on Tuesday alone, marking the eighth consecutive day of severe disruptions. At the Hyderabad airport, 58 flights were cancelled, while Bengaluru saw 121 cancellations.
The crisis has also prompted the government to consider redistributing some of IndiGo’s routes to other domestic carriers.
Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the government will “definitely” reduce IndiGo’s winter slots.
“This will be a kind of penalty on the airline as they will not be able to fly on those (curtailed) routes,” he told DD News, adding that these routes would be reassigned to other airlines until IndiGo demonstrates operational readiness.
IndiGo, which operates over 2,200 flights per day across more than 90 domestic and 40 international destinations, had cancelled over 560 flights from six metro airports on Monday, according to airport data cited by PTI.
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