New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has cut IndiGo’s approved winter schedules by 5% as the airline has “not demonstrated an ability to operate” the same — 15,014 weekly departures — “efficiently”. The airline has been directed to reduce operations “across sectors, especially on high-demand, high-frequency flights, and to avoid single-flight operations on a sector by IndiGo.,The airline has to submit a revised schedule by 5 pm on Wednesday. A 5% cut on 15,014 weekly, or about 2,145 daily, domestic flights translates to about 108 less daily or 751 less weekly flights. Further cuts are not ruled out as the DGCA is now seeing at what level the airlines are able to stabilize its operations.
IndiGo’s summer schedule was for operating 14,158 weekly domestic flights which was increased 6% in the winter schedule starting Oct 26. This translated into the airline having an approval to operate 64,346 domestic flights in Nov. “As per operational data submitted by IndiGo, it (actually operated) 59,438 flights during Nov 2025, with 951 flight cancellations recorded during the month,” the DGCA notice issued to the airline about flight cuts on Monday night says.The regulator had increased IndiGo’s winter flights based on an estimated higher aircraft availability at 403 against 351 this summer. “However, it has been observed that the airline could operate only 339 aircraft in Oct 2025 and 344 aircraft in Nov 2025… IndiGo increased its departures by 9.66% in comparison to winter schedule 2024 and by 6% in relation to summer schedule 2025. However, the airline has not demonstrated an ability to operate these schedules efficiently,” the DGCA notice says.What happens from Feb 10, 2026, remains to be seen. IndiGo has got an exemption from certain aspects of the new pilot rostering rules for its Airbus A320 fleet till that day. Unless another extension is given beyond that day, the airline’s flights will need to be aligned with its crew strength as per the new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) norms to avoid a repeat of what is being witnessed so far in December.The problem essentially happened as the new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) that increased pilot requirement came into effect from Nov 1. On the one hand IndiGo did not gear up for that and on the other, its daily flights increased 6%. So November saw modest cancellations but the mismatch snowballed into a major crisis in the first week of Dec with hundreds of flights being canceled daily.Air India and AI Express, on the other hand, saw their weekly domestic schedule being reduced by 0.8% and 6%, respectively from summer to winter schedule. India’s second biggest airline group saw its weekly summer domestic flights 7,685 reduce overall by 3% to 7,448 in winter. Akasa also saw its weekly winter domestic schedule reduce by 5.7% from 1,089 to 1,027. SpiceJet, which is ramping up operations, saw an increase of over 26% with the number increasing from 1,240 to 1,568.Now questions are being asked of aviation authorities why did they permit IndiGo more flights without checking its crew availability under the new FDTL requirement.On its part, IndiGo has attributed the disruption to a “compounding effect of multiple factors which coincided in lesser or greater measure” in an “unfortunate and unpredictable confluence.” These are: Minor technical glitches; schedule changes linked to the start of the winter season; adverse weather conditions increased congestion in the aviation system, andiImplementation of and operation under the updated crew rostering rules (FDTL Phase II) that came into force on Nov 1, 2025.IndiGo summer schedule 2025: 14,158 weekly domestic flights.IndiGo winter schedule 2025: 6% more at 15,014 weekly domestic flights.The airline was estimated to operate 403 aircraft this winter, up from 351 in summer. It operated 344 aircraft in Nov due to new FDTL rule which increased pilot requirement. In November it should have operated 64,346 flights but operated 59,438 flights as 951 were cancelled. IndiGo winter 2025 flights were 9.7% higher than last winter. Now has to cut 5% flights across network. More cuts on high-demand, high-frequency flights to avoid single-flight operations on a sector by IndiGo. The airline has to submit revised schedule by 5 PM on December 10.
