IndiGo on Wednesday announced a sharp recalibration of its long-haul operations, suspending flights to Copenhagen and cutting frequencies on key UK routes, citing mounting external operational constraints that have stretched its wide-body schedule.

The airline said its Boeing 787-9 operations were under sustained pressure due to continuously changing airspace restrictions linked to geopolitical developments along with congestion at major airports in India and overseas. These factors have significantly increased flight and block times, putting strain on a fleet of just six wide-body aircraft.

As part of the immediate network adjustment, IndiGo will suspend flights to and from Copenhagen from February 17 until further notice. The airline will also scale back its Delhi-Manchester services, reducing frequencies from five flights a week to four from February 7, and further down to three weekly flights from February 19. The overall connectivity to Manchester will drop from nine weekly services to seven.

Delhi-London Heathrow services will also be cut from five flights a week to four for the current winter schedule, with the revised frequency taking effect from February 9.

CCI orders probe against IndiGo over unfair biz practices

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday ordered a probe against IndiGo for unfair business practices, two months after it cancelled thousands of flights due to operational issues. The CCI said by cancelling flights, IndiGo withheld its services from the market, creating artificial scarcity, limiting consumer access to air travel.

IndiGo said the scale-down was originally planned for the summer schedule of 2026, but was being brought forward to stabilise operations and protect the reliability of its long-haul network. The airline stressed that the decision was aimed at avoiding passenger inconvenience caused by misconnections and cascading delays.

“These factors have significantly increased flight and block times, causing strain over the airline’s 787-9 schedule,” IndiGo said, adding that the revised network would allow better recovery time in operating patterns and improve on-time performance.

The airline said it was proactively reaching out to affected passengers to offer alternative flights, refunds or compensation as per applicable rules.

IndiGo launched its wide-body operations in March 2025 through a damp lease arrangement for six Boeing 787-9 aircraft from Norse Atlantic Airways. The move was positioned as an interim step in the airline’s international expansion, ahead of the induction of its own A350-900 aircraft from early 2028.

Expressing regret over the disruption, IndiGo said the prevailing global conditions had impacted the operational reliability of its long-haul routes. The airline said that it would continue to closely monitor external developments and adjust its international network as needed to align with evolving operational realities.