‘Airline has not demonstrated ability to operate...’: DGCA orders 5% cut in IndiGo flights

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday (Dec 9) issued a notice to IndiGo stating that the airline has to cut its flights by 5 per cent. This comes after the airline responded to the show-cause notice. Last week, the airline faced nationwide cancellations, resulting in hundreds of thousands of passengers being stranded at the airport. On Sunday (Dec 7), IndiGo said that it was “making very significant progress”, although the operator is still facing some disruptions across major Indian airports. DGCA has also demanded that India’s largest operator submit a revised schedule for flights by 5 pm on Wednesday (Dec 10).

“It was observed that, as per the Winter Schedule (WS) 2025 issued by DGCA, 15,014 departures per week were approved for M/s Indigo, amounting to 64,346 flights approved for the month of November 2025,” the Director General of Civil Aviation said in the notice.

The government body added that, as per the operational data submitted by Indigo, it was found that 59,438 flights were actually operated during November 2025, while 951 were cancelled.

Comparing its summer schedule, DGCA added, “As compared to SS25, Indigo was allowed an enhancement of the schedule by 6% with 403 aircraft as against 351 aircraft in SS25. However, it has been observed that the airline could operate only 339 aircraft in October 2025 and 344 aircraft in November 2025.”

DGCA noted that Indigo has increased its departures by 9.66 per cent in its current winter schedule when compared with last year’s, while 6.05 per cent when compared to its summer schedule for this year.

“However, the airline has not demonstrated an ability to operate these schedules efficiently. Therefore, it is directed to reduce the schedule by 5% across sectors, especially on high-demand, high-frequency flights, and to avoid single-flight operations on a sector by Indigo,” the civil aviation regulator directed. “Furthermore, you are required to submit a revised schedule by 5 PM on 10 December 2025.”