Indigo has reportedly vacated more than 700 slots across numerous domestic airports in India after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) curtailed the airline’s winter schedule by 10 per cent owing to major operational disruptions wreaked by the airline.
Slots generally refer to a specific time window allocated to airlines for aircraft take-off and landing
Out of the 717 slots that have been abandoned, as many as 364 are from six key metro airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad according to PTI.
The country’s largest airline was directed by DGCA to reduce its winter schedule by 10 per cent as part of regulatory measures aimed at preventing last-minute cancellations and reducing flight delays. The measures are expected to bring stability to the operations of the disrupted airline.
The vacated slots are spread across the January–March period, with 361 slots in January, 43 in February and another 361 in March.
What prompted DGCA’s action
Between December 3 and 5, IndiGo cancelled 2,507 flights and delayed 1,852 flights, impacting more than 3 lakh passengers nationwide, according to PTI. The disruptions exposed gaps in crew management, operational planning, and system preparedness.
Following these disruptions, DGCA initiated the regulatory move to smoothen operations and reduce last minute flight cancellations and reschedulement.
The civil aviation ministry has invited other airlines to submit requests to operate domestic flights on the slots vacated by IndiGo. According to PTI, IndiGo submitted the list of 717 slots to the ministry after its winter schedule was cut in early December.
Under its original winter schedule for 2025–26, IndiGo was permitted to operate 15,014 flights per week, equivalent to around 2,144 flights per day. After the reduction, this came down to around 1,930 domestic flights per day.
Financial Express Online has reached out to IndiGo for comment; this story will be updated once a response is received.
Why the vacated slots may not attract airlines
The civil aviation ministry has invited other airlines to apply for the vacated slots. However, industry executives told PTI that interest is likely to remain limited.
One key reason is duration. The slots are available only till the end of March, after which they are expected to revert to IndiGo. Executives said airlines cannot redesign entire aviation networks and schedules that have been prepared way in advance for such short-term allocations.
Another limiting factor is timing. Many of the vacated slots fall in red-eye hours which include late-night and early-morning operations which have weaker commercial demand and lower profitability for most carriers.
“No airline will open a sector at such short notice only to shut it again after a month,” one industry executive told PTI.
Financial fallouts and penalties
The DGCA has also taken enforcement action against IndiGo following the December disruptions. On January 17, the regulator imposed fines totalling Rs 22.20 crore and issued warnings to CEO Pieter Elbers and two senior executives for operational lapses.
DGCA had previously also warned CEO Pieter Elbers and two other senior executives for the lapses.
It also directed the airline to furnish a Rs 50 crore bank guarantee to ensure long-term systemic corrections.
In its latest comment on the matter, DGCA on January 20 had pointed out that December’s disruptions stemmed from mismanagement of adequate flight crew and shortcomings in management structure and system software support.