The Ministry of Civil Aviation has ordered airlines to submit applications to operate on slots vacated by Indigo after the airline’s winter schedules were reduced due to severe disruptions in December 2025. The move aims to redistribute capacity and maintain stability in domestic air travel, but early feedback suggests limited airline interest in the slots on offer.
IndiGo, India’s largest airline with over 2,000 daily flights, canceled 2,507 flights and delayed 1,852 between December 3 and 5, 2025, affecting over 300,000 passengers. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) responded by imposing a 10 per cent cut on IndiGo’s winter schedule, freeing up several operational slots for reallocation.
A commission for the redistribution of these slots met on January 13 to set the principles of reallocation. The panel asked interested airlines to submit applications and preferences for available slots, with conditions such as not interrupting existing routes to use the vacated ones.
Applications must be routed through airport operators, with final award decisions resting with the authorities. However, the industry response has been muted.
“No one (the airline) wants to take their (IndiGo) slots. They leave nothing except red-eye flights, which no one wants to take. At most, they leave one flight from a station where they have six flights. Nobody, in fact, is interested in insignificant slots,” an airline executive told PTI.
IndiGo’s operational problems have led to increased scrutiny from regulatory authorities. On January 17, the DGCA announced fines totaling ₹22.20 crore for the disruptions and issued warnings to CEO Pieter Elbers and two senior executives. The regulator also demanded a bank guarantee of ₹50 crore from IndiGo for long-term systemic improvements.
The DGCA attributed the disruptions to inadequate crew management, insufficient regulatory preparation and gaps in system software and operational control.
“The airline’s planning processes did not adequately identify operational deficiencies or maintain sufficient operational margins. The primary focus was on maximizing the use of crew, aircraft and network resources, which led to reduced staffing buffer margins,” the watchdog said.
It further noted: “Crew complements have been designed to operate within authorized duty periods, with increased reliance on dead positions, tail swaps, extended duty patterns and minimum recovery margins. This has compromised workforce integrity and operational resilience and has negatively impacted the implementation of the revised FDTL arrangements. »
IndiGo reported a 78% drop in profit, totaling ₹549.1 crore for the quarter ending December 2025, citing higher expenses, changes in labor laws and currency fluctuations as contributing factors.
