High fares for summer likely, as key airlines to operate fewer flights

New Delhi: Passengers may have to pay a higher price for their domestic flights during the summer as key domestic airlines, including the market leader IndiGo, would operate fewer flights during their summer schedule, which starts on the last Sunday of March.

IndiGo will operate 0.53% fewer flights, Air India will operate 3.76% fewer flights as compared to the winter schedule, and SpiceJet will operate 22.28% fewer flights during this period, according to aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Meanwhile, the DGCA said that the summer schedule will see slightly higher weekly departures (24,275) of 2.29% as compared to the ongoing winter schedule (23,732) mainly due to more flights by Akasa, Vistara and regional carriers like Star Air.

“It has been observed that there are 24,275 departures per week which have been finalized to/from 125 airports as per SS 24 compared to 23,732 departures per week from 119 airports in WS 2023. Out of these 125 airports, Azamgarh, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, Gondia, Jalgaon, Moradabad and Pithoragarh are the new airports proposed by the scheduled airlines,” a statement from the regulator read.

“We have serious capacity shortages and are likely to remain. It is logical to have an impact on fares, especially during peak periods,” said CAPA India CEO Kapil Kaul.

However, compared to the summer schedule last year, Indian airlines will operate nearly six per cent more this summer, according to the DCGA.

IndiGo will be operating 13.82 per cent more flights at 13,050 in the summer schedule compared to last year, the DGCA stated.

Similarly, Air India will increase its weekly departures by 4.59 per cent to 2,278, Vistara will operate 25.22 per cent more weekly flights at 2,324 and Akasa Air will increase their weekly domestic departures by 14.30 per cent to 903, it said. However, SpiceJet will reduce its weekly departures by 22.28 per cent, from 2240 to 1657, the DGCA stated.

Travel Agent Federation of India (TAFI) president Ajay Prakash said that the decrease in weekly departures indicates an increase in airfares. “This will add to the existing hike in airfares,” he said.

The aviation regulator also stated that Indian airlines will be operating 1,922 weekly international flights, which is a rise of 5.1 per cent compared to the 2023 summer schedule.