Winter schedule to see 14% more flights

Domestic flyers will have more choices with the domestic airlines planning to operate 13,951 weekly flights during winter schedule which kicks in from last Sunday of October, a close to 14 per cent increase from the flights operated during winter schedule 2014-15.

Globally, airlines follow a winter and summer schedule. The winter schedule runs from the last Sunday in October to the last Sunday in March of the following year, and the summer schedule extends for the rest of the year.

Almost all airlines are planning to operate more flights this winter as compared to the same period in the previous year. The latest data available with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation shows that IndiGo plans to operate 4,359 weekly flights up from 3,733 weekly departures in winter 2014-15 while Jet Airways plans 3,307 weekly flights up from 2,498 operated during the previous winter.

Go Air and SpiceJet are the two airlines that plan to operate fewer flights this winter as compared to the previous year. The DGCA data show that while SpiceJet plans to operate 1,855 flights a week this winter as compared to 2,277 weekly departures previously, GoAir will see a marginal decline as it plans to operate 950 weekly flights down from 957 weekly flights previously.

Air India plans to operate 1,705 weekly flights (1,676 weekly flights previously) while its subsidiary Alliance Air plans 270 weekly flights (210 weekly flights previously).

The exact number of flights which the airlines will operate in the forthcoming winter schedule will become clearer in the coming weeks as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has called a meeting next week to see the preparedness of domestic airlines to operate the flights that they propose. During the meeting the DGCA will look at whether the aircraft are equipped to fly in low visibility conditions that prevail in winter and also whether the crew is trained to operate under low visibility conditions.

The issue of whether the alternate airports are equipped to allow planes to land safely in low visibility conditions will also be looked at before the DGCA gives the final nod for airlines to operate the flights that they propose in the winter schedule. Every airline has to mention which is the alternate airport they will land in in-case the original airfield where they are to land is suddenly affected by bad weather in winter and visibility drops so low that landing and take off is not possible.

Kadapa and Durgapur are the two new airports added to operational airports to which airlines plan to have regular flights during the winter schedule 2015-16.

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