The Union aviation minister on Tuesday announced that IndiGo has been directed to trim its flight schedule by 10 per cent. The announcement comes a day after the aviation regulator had ordered carrier to cut down its flights by five per cent.
“The Ministry considers it necessary to curtail the overall Indigo routes, which will help in stabilising the airline’s operations and lead to reduced cancellations. A curtailment of 10 per cent has been ordered. While abiding by it, Indigo will continue to cover all its destinations as before,” the minister said.
Posting a picture of IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers, sitting with folded hands in front of him, Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, in a post on X, said that the airline management was summoned to the ministry to provide an update.
In its flight curtailment order, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said, compared to its summer schedule, IndiGo was allowed an enhancement of the schedule by 6 per cent with 403 aircraft as against 351. However, the airline could operate only 339 aircraft in October and 344 in November.
“The airline has not demonstrated an ability to operate these schedules efficiently. Therefore, it is directed to reduce the schedule by 10 per cent across sectors, especially on high-demand. high-frequency flights, and to avoid single-flight operations on a sector by Indigo,” the regulator said. It has asked the airline to submit a revised schedule by Wednesday.
IndiGo is India’s largest airline with a domestic market share of nearly 65 per cent with operations across 950 routes. Notably, nearly 600 — or 63 per cent — of these are monopoly routes, and about 200 (21 per cent) are duopoly routes where IndiGo has just one competitor.
Shares of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, IndiGo’s parent company, were down 2 per cent on Tuesday. The shares have lost over 17 per cent of their value this month.
