Country cannot depend on two big airlines, says Naidu

Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu on Thursday said the turmoil that swept through airports this month was the direct result of IndiGo’s internal failures, warning that India’s aviation network cannot remain vulnerable to the breakdown of one or two dominant carriers. He said the country needs at least five airlines of substantial scale, each with around 100 aircraft, to prevent any single operator from becoming a national choke point.

He said the chaos that stranded thousands of passengers began within IndiGo’s own systems, pointing to faulty crew rostering and wider operational flaws. He said the meltdown “came from inside the airline” and that passengers paid the price for lapses that should never have reached this scale.

Naidu, while talking to a media outlet, also made it cl