Mumbai: The Civil Aviation Ministry on Tuesday directed IndiGo to reduce its flight schedule by 10 per cent, aiming to stabilise the crisis-hit airline after massive operational disruptions caused by the rollout of the second phase of new flight duty norms for pilots.

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers was summoned to the ministry to provide an update. Elbers “confirmed” that 100 per cent of the refunds for flights affected until December 6 have been completed.

“A curtailment of 10 per cent (in IndiGo's flight schedule) has been ordered. While abiding with it, IndiGo will continue to cover all its destinations as before,” Naidu said.

Earlier, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had issued an order reducing IndiGo’s flight schedule by 5 per cent. The ministry, however, considered a larger cut necessary to stabilise overall operations and reduce cancellations.

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Starting earlier this month, IndiGo had cancelled thousands of flights, causing severe inconvenience to millions of passengers and creating chaos at airports across the country.

Naidu emphasised that the airline has been instructed to comply with all ministry directives, including fare capping and passenger convenience measures, “without any exception.”

“During the last week, many passengers faced severe inconvenience due to IndiGo’s internal mismanagement of crew rosters, flight schedules and inadequate communication,” the minister said.

He added that the ministry continues to review stabilisation measures. “While the enquiry and necessary actions are underway, another meeting with IndiGo's top management was held to review the stabilisation measures. On Tuesday again, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers was summoned to the Ministry to provide an update,” Naidu noted.

PTI