Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu on Monday announced that the government will reduce IndiGo’s winter flight schedule and reallocate some of its routes to other airlines in response to the carrier’s recent widespread operational breakdowns.
"We will curtail IndiGo's routes. They are currently operating 2,200 flights. We will definitely curtail them,” Naidu told Doordarshan news channel.
The minister said refunds amounting to Rs 745 crore have been issued for 7,30,655 cancelled PNRs between December 1 and 8 as of 5 pm. He added that 6,000 of the 9,000 delayed passenger bags had already been delivered, with the remaining scheduled for delivery by either Monday night or Tuesday morning.
IndiGo, which holds a 70 percent share of India’s domestic aviation market and operates the largest fleet, came under intense scrutiny after massive service disruptions. Naidu held a detailed late night review meeting on Monday December 8 with all departments and senior officials after a full day of assessing the airline’s performance.
IndiGo flight status today
At the Mumbai airport, for now, IndiGo flights are running on time. After the web check-in opened, the counters have also remained clear. However, some pre scheduled flights have been cancelled, and passengers have been informed about those.
IndiGo-DGCA review meeting today
As part of the ongoing investigation into the crisis, deputy secretaries from the ministry will travel on Tuesday to major airports across the country to inspect the situation at what the government called ‘ground zero’. A wider review involving all airlines has also been scheduled to assess the overall operational readiness of the aviation sector. Government representatives and DGCA officials are set to meet IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers around 11 am to evaluate the airline’s recent failures.
What curtailing IndiGo's winter flights mean
The aviation sector operates on summer and winter schedules. For the current winter season, IndiGo had been allotted a high number of flights due to its large fleet and market dominance. But after the disruptions of the past week, authorities have decided that these additional routes are likely to be reduced. The newly freed up slots will then be reassigned to other carriers following Tuesday’s full scale review with all departments and operators.
IndiGo responded on Monday December 8 to the DGCA show cause notice issued to CEO Pieter Elbers. In its reply, the airline said it is “profusely apologetic” for last week’s nationwide disruptions and described the situation as an “unfortunate and unforeseeable confluence” of multiple operational problems. It added that while it is “deeply regretful” about the turmoil, it is “realistically not possible to pinpoint the exact cause(s)” immediately due to the size and complexity of its operations.