The Civil Aviation Ministry has directed IndiGo to scale back its flight operations by 10% after days of widespread disruptions that left passengers stranded across airports. The decision came after Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, Civil Aviation Secretary Sameer Sinha, and IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers met to review the escalating crisis.

Following the ministry’s instructions, IndiGo confirmed it will maintain service to all current destinations but with a trimmed schedule. Minister Naidu posted on X that the airline will “continue operating all routes with a 10% reduction in overall flying.”

Naidu added that CEO Pieter Elbers had assured the ministry that refunds for all flights cancelled up to December 6 had been processed. He said the temporary route curtailment was necessary to “steady operations and reduce further cancellations.”

IndiGo Says Operations Are Recovering

In a video message earlier on Tuesday, Elbers told customers that the airline was finally stabilising after an unprecedented operational breakdown.

“IndiGo is back on its feet and our operations are stable. We know we let you down, and we sincerely apologise,” he said.

He added that the first priority was transporting stranded passengers, followed by clearing refund backlogs. While he did not specify the total amount refunded so far, IndiGo stated that lakhs of affected passengers have already received their money.

Elbers also said most misplaced baggage had been returned, with efforts underway to deliver the remaining items.

Flights Ramp Up After Severe Drop

According to IndiGo, the airline managed only 700 flights on December 5 — less than half of its usual daily schedule. Since then, it has steadily rebuilt operations:

• 1,500 flights on December 6

• 1,650 flights on December 7

• 1,800+ flights on December 8–9

Elbers said all 138 destinations in IndiGo’s network are now being served again and on-time performance has returned to regular levels.

“We had earlier estimated normalisation by December 10–15. As of December 9, our operations are fully stabilised,” he confirmed.

Winter Schedule 2025 Announced

Separately, the Civil Aviation Ministry released the Winter Schedule 2025, detailing 26,495 weekly flights across 126 airports, compared to 25,610 weekly departures across 129 airports in the Summer 2025 schedule.

New airports added to the winter schedule include Amravati, Hissar, Purnia, and Rupsi. Operations have been suspended at Aligarh, Moradabad, Chitrakoot, Bhavnagar, Ludhiana, Pakyong, and Shravasti.