'We need at least 5 carriers to avoid monopoly, duopoly': Civil Aviation minister after IndiGo flight chaos

Amid the IndiGo meltdown since the beginning of this month, Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu on Thursday said for a more balanced airline sector, there should be at least five carriers, each with a fleet of around 100 aircraft, to safeguard against overreliance on a small number of operators. This intervention follows significant operational issues at IndiGo, which led to widespread passenger disruption and triggered a thorough government review of industry practices. 

The minister stated, "We need at least five airlines with around 100 aircraft each, so the country is not dependent on one or two carriers. This is essential to avoid monopoly and duopoly."

Naidu said the turmoil that left thousands of passengers stranded stemmed from severe internal lapses at IndiGo, citing faulty crew rostering and other operational breakdowns. In a conversation with India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai at  Agenda Aaj Tak, he stressed that the airline alone was responsible for the collapse of its network.

He also noted that even though the government has been in continuous communication with the carrier, IndiGo’s top management has yet to respond to several critical questions. “The IndiGo chairman has not answered many issues raised in his video on Wednesday,” Naidu remarked, signalling the Centre’s dissatisfaction with the explanations given so far. 

He added that the government is examining every dimension of the crisis — including alleged fare surges by airlines — after ticket prices on alternative flights spiked during IndiGo’s disruption.

Naidu said the Ministry is actively assessing the issue of price surges. He said: "Analysing each and every aspect of the crisis, including price gouging by airlines," after alternative ticket prices increased sharply during the operational shortcomings. 

On the matter of regulatory intervention, he noted the government had to carefully evaluate the situation before capping fares, as prompt action required understanding the full extent of the disruption's impact.

Responding to criticism that the government was late in capping airfares, nearly 48 hours, Naidu said the ministry first needed to thoroughly evaluate the situation before taking action. On whether the government has the authority to sack the CEO of a private airline, Naidu admitted there are legal and procedural constraints, but cautioned that action cannot be ruled out if significant failures are established.

Govt's action

After IndiGo scrapped more than 5,000 flights last week, the Centre ordered the airline to trim its schedule by 10%, sparking concerns among travellers about a potential spike in airfares. However, industry reports suggest the move is unlikely to significantly push up domestic ticket prices. The effective reduction applies to only around 70 domestic flights that currently have tickets on sale, meaning passengers may not feel much of a pinch in fares. The bigger setback is for IndiGo itself — its expansion plans for the winter season will be slowed, as the airline can no longer roll out several new routes it had lined up. Importantly, IndiGo’s nearly 190 daily international flights remain untouched.

For the winter schedule, the DGCA had cleared IndiGo to operate 2,145 domestic flights per day. With the enforced 10% cut, the cap drops to roughly 1,930 flights. But because IndiGo had already been running just above 2,000 daily flights since November, the real-world impact is limited, amounting to the cancellation of around 70 flights.