Indian Carriers To Operate 22,907 Weekly Domestic Flights In Summer Schedule
As many as 11 airlines will be operating domestic services, with maximum weekly flights by IndiGo at 11,465.
Indian carriers will operate a total of 22,907 domestic flights weekly during the summer schedule, starting on March 26.
The number of flights to be operated is 4.4% higher compared to the 21,941 weekly flights operated in the winter schedule, according to aviation regulator DGCA.
The summer schedule is from March 26 through Oct. 28.
As many as 11 airlines will be operating domestic services, with maximum weekly flights by IndiGo at 11,465.
The airline operated 10,085 flights during the 2022 summer schedule.
Among the 11 airlines, Alliance Air, Air Asia, SpiceJet, and Vistara will operate fewer flights in the upcoming summer schedule compared to the 2022 winter schedule, which is from Oct. 28, 2022, to March 25, 2023.
SpiceJet will be flying only 2,240 weekly flights in the summer schedule. This is nearly 30% lower than 3,193 weekly flights in the winter schedule.
In a release on Friday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said 22,907 departures per week have been finalised to or from 110 airports for the summer schedule, compared to 21,941 departures per week from 106 airports in the winter schedule for 2022.
"Out of these 110 airports, Jeypore, Cooch Behar, Hollongi, Jamshedpur, Pakyong, and Mopa (Goa) are the new airports proposed by the scheduled airlines, whereas operations from Ziro and Hindon airports are not proposed in the summer schedule of 2023," the release said.
Tata Group-owned Air India will operate 2,178 weekly flights, which is 9.45% more than the 1,990 flights in the winter schedule.
Its group airlines—Vistara and AirAsia—will be flying fewer flights compared to the winter schedule. While Vistara will be operating 1,856 weekly flights, which will be 4.38% lower than the winter schedule number of 1,941, Air Asia will be flying a marginally lesser number of flights at 1,456.
In the winter schedule, the number of weekly flights for Air Asia was 1,462.
No-frills carrier Go Air, now rebranded as Go First, will be operating 10.65% more weekly flights at 1,538 in the summer schedule.
Akasa Air will operate 751 weekly flights in the summer schedule.
In the summer schedule, Alliance Air will be flying 14% fewer weekly flights at 887.
According to the release, Star Air and Fly Big will operate a higher number of weekly flights in the summer schedule, at 234 and 220, respectively.
IndiaOne will be the new operator in the 2023 summer schedule, and it will operate 82 weekly flights.
After being significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the country's aviation sector is on a strong recovery path, and domestic air traffic has been on the rise in recent times.
