In order to bring order to the operations of India’s largest airline, and by extension to the aviation ecosystem that is in the doldrums owing to the mass cancellation of flights, the Ministry of Civil Aviation ordered a curtailment of IndiGo’s planned flights. The available slots will be redistributed among other rival airlines.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked IndiGo to submit a revised schedule by Wednesday.
The strict measures were necessitated after IndiGo cancelled over 5,500 flights that left tens of thousands of passengers stranded across airports, upending plans revolving around vacation, healthcare, weddings and meetings, also causing them losses and damages.
WHY REDISTRIBUTE?
This will not only ease the pressure on IndiGo to meet its scheduled winter flights which amounted to 2,200 flights, it will also ensure that the passengers will have a choice to fly another airline.
Top sources said that the decision to curtail 10 per cent of IndiGo’s winter operations would bring down its market share to 55-57 per cent.
MoCA held a review meeting with top officials of all airline operators on Tuesday, where they looked into the operational status, resources in hand, passenger care and other technical aspects of the airlines.
WHO WILL GET THE SLOTS?
Its operation share would be given to Air India, SpiceJet, Akasa and other reliable operators based on their capacity, fleet strength and resources in hand.
Sources also said that the handover of the operations would be done in a staggered manner. MoCA wants the complete redistribution process to be completed as soon as possible, sources said. However, they don’t want a situation where re-allocated flights end up getting cancelled. Hence allocation would be done on the basis of the airlines’ resources.
Air India added 12 flights to its operations on December 9, while IndiGo would continue to operate in all sectors and destinations like before.
INDIGO MARKET SHARE
As per DGCA’s traffic report, IndiGo’s market share remained between 23-25 per cent in 2025, while Air India controls between 26-27 per cent market share.
The latest entrant Akasa has little over 5 per cent market share, while SpiceJet caters to 2 per cent of the market.
