DGCA May Order IndiGo to Cut 300 Daily Flights Until February Amid Pilot Shortage

India’s civil aviation regulator is likely to ask IndiGo to reduce its flight operations until February as the airline struggles with a severe shortage of pilots, which has severely disrupted its network. The crisis has already led to the cancellation of over 5,000 flights in December alone.

Before the disruption, IndiGo was operating nearly 2,300 flights daily. However, the airline may now be instructed to cut around 300 flights per day under the winter schedule, which runs from the last Sunday of October to the last Sunday of March. In response, the government has directed Air India and other carriers to increase their services to manage the additional passenger demand caused by IndiGo’s reduced operations.

Senior officials from IndiGo have been summoned by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and are expected to submit a detailed operational plan outlining how many flights the airline can manage with its current pilot strength. They have also been asked to present a roadmap for pilot recruitment, training capacity, and crew scheduling, based on which the regulator will decide on further action.

A senior government official said authorities are proceeding cautiously, especially as fog conditions expected in north India from next week could worsen delays and disruptions. An IndiGo executive stated that the airline is unlikely to restore full flight capacity for at least the next three months, as increasing the number of captains is a complex and time-intensive process involving extensive training.

On Sunday, IndiGo operated around 1,650 flights, a slight improvement from 1,578 flights on Saturday, as it worked toward stabilizing its network after days of heavy disruption. Thousands of passengers were stranded at airports across the country over the past five days, triggering widespread public outrage and calls for stricter action against the country’s largest airline by market share. Many travelers complained that they received little to no assistance from the airline in reaching their destinations.

IndiGo has attributed the crisis to newly implemented pilot rest regulations. In its submission to the regulator, the airline admitted it had underestimated the increase in pilot requirements under the new norms. While it requires 2,422 captains to operate its schedule smoothly, it currently has only 2,357.

The DGCA introduced the revised rest rules in two phases to address pilot fatigue—one in June and the second from November 1. The latter phase placed a cap on the number of landings a pilot can perform between midnight and 6 a.m. Though airlines had sought further deferment after an earlier one-year delay, the regulator moved ahead with implementation with limited relaxations as directed by the Delhi High Court.

In view of the disruption and rising ticket prices, the DGCA has imposed fare caps. One-way fares for routes up to 500 km cannot exceed ₹7,500, while fares for distances between 1,000 and 1,500 km—including high-demand routes such as New Delhi–Mumbai—are capped at ₹15,000. Other airlines such as Air India, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air have been instructed to increase capacity, with Air India also deploying wide-body aircraft on domestic routes to bridge the shortfall.