New Delhi, Mar 26, 2025, IANS

New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) India's commercial airlines will operate 25,610 flights per week during the forthcoming summer season, a 5.5 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. The summer season for airlines this year runs from March 30 to October 25. The number of flights in the summer schedule is 2.5 per cent higher than the preceding winter season. The country's biggest airline, IndiGo, will be operating 467 additional flights a week compared to the same period last year, which represents a 3 per cent increase. The DGCA statement showed that IndiGo will operate the highest number of weekly domestic flights, with 14,158 departures scheduled, followed by Air India (4,310) and Air India Express (3,375). Meanwhile, SpiceJet's slots have decreased by 25 per cent from 1,657 departures last year to 1,240 departures this year. DGCA also highlighted that regional airlines like Alliance Air and Flybig have seen a significant decrease of 41.96 per cent and 30.98 per cent, respectively, in the number of flights. The new summer schedule showed that out of 129 airports, Ambikapur, Datia, Bidar, Porbandar, Pakyaong, Rewa, and Solapur are new airports proposed by the scheduled airlines, while operations from Azamgarh and Rupsi airports were suspended in the Summer Schedule 2025. The Navi Mumbai airport and the Noida Airport at Jewar near Delhi have not been included in the schedule. These airports are expected to start operations by October 2025, when the summer schedule transitions to the next winter. The total number of flights in the schedule is an all-time high and surpasses pre-COVID levels as air traffic grows at a robust pace in Indian skies. India's aviation sector reflects a stable outlook with domestic air passenger traffic recording a double-digit growth of 11.04 per cent in February this year compared to the same month of the previous year. According to an ICRA report, domestic air traffic for the 11 months of the current financial year was around 1,551 lakh passengers, which is 7.7 per cent higher than the same period of the previous year and 12.9 per cent higher than the pre-Covid level of 1,338 lakh in 11MFY20. Besides, in the first 10 months of the current financial year (April-January), the international passenger traffic for Indian carriers stood at 280.9 lakh, a year-on-year growth of 14.8 per cent, higher than the pre-Covid level of around 198.8 lakh by 41.3 per cent.