DGCA Asks IndiGo To Cut Flights By 5% After Flight Cancellation Fiasco
This essentially means IndiGo will have to cut roughly about 115 flights from the 2,300 flights it operates daily.
Following the flight cancellation fiasco that impacted thousands of passengers in the past few days, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has asked the airline to cut its schedule by 5% in an order dated Dec. 8.
This essentially means IndiGo will have to cut roughly about 115 flights from the 2,300 flights it operates daily.
Following the fiasco that took place last week, IndiGo had somewhat returned to normalcy on Monday, orchestrating 1,800 flights.
In line with the directive, IndiGo has been asked to send a revised schedule by Dec. 10, 5 p.m.
DGCA confirmed that it has observed "wide disruptions due to massive cancellations of flights" throughout November, with the aviation regulator pointing out that while the airline was apporved for 15,014 weekly departures, it only operated 59,438 flights during the entire month against an approved 64,346.
This discrepancy means InidGo had 951 recorded cancellations in November alone.
While IndiGo was granted a 6% enhancement in its schedule based on a projected fleet of 403 aircraft (up from 351 in the Summer Schedule), operational data showed the airline could only deploy 339 aircraft in October and 344 in the month of November.
"The airline has not demonstrated an ability to operate these schedules efficiently," the DGCA stated in its notice.
Moreover, the regulator has specifically directed IndiGo to reduce flights "especially on high-demand, high-frequency flights, and to avoid single-flight operations on a sector" to minimise passenger inconvenience.
This move comes amid public frustration over IndiGo after it had to cancel scores of flights on account of rostering woes.
The entire fiasco had ramifications for IndiGo's stock as well, which fell more than 8% on Monday, though it is currently trading higher.
A slew of brokerages have estimated impact of up to 9% on IndiGo's net income in Q3FY26, especially after the company had to spend a fortune on issuing refunds to all affected parties.
