Indian Airlines to Increase Winter Flight Deployments by 8% for 2023 Season
IndiGo leads the surge with 30% increase in departures, filling void after Go First operations suspension; SpiceJet continues to face capacity constraints with a 33% drop.
- Indian airlines will operate over 8% more flights in the 2023 winter season, with a total of 23,732 flight departures every week, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This represents a 1.4% increase over the 2019 winter schedule.
- The suspension of Go First's operations in May, which scheduled 1,390 departures last winter, has led to a deployment increase by other airlines, particularly IndiGo which proposed to operate 13,119 flight departures, up 30% from last year.
- Air India is expected to grow 19%, planning to deploy 2,367 flight departures weekly compared to 1,990 last year, while combined flight departures proposed by AirAsia India and Air India Express are set to increase, standing at 1,940 flights compared to 1,462 last year.
- SpiceJet continues to face capacity constraints, with proposed flight deployments showing a 33% drop from the year-ago period and a 5% dip from the summer schedule, planning to deploy 2,132 flights weekly.
- The DGCA has added Bhatinda, Jaisalmer, Ludhiana, Nanded, Shivamogga, Salem, Utkela, Hindon, and Ziro to the new scheduled airports for Winter 2023, expanding their operations to a total of 118 airports.
