Air India to add 400 flights for winter schedule

The Tata-owned airline will induct over 30 widebody and narrowbody aircraft to its fleet during the winter schedule, including six A350s, four B777s and 20 A320neos.

Three Indian airlines on Friday announced their latest additions to the winter schedule 2023 will be effective from October 29 to March 30 next year. 

This comes less than a week after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)  approved a total of 23,732 flights per week during the winter season from 118 airports, an 8% rise in the number of flights compared to a year ago and 3.60% as compared to summer schedule 2023. 

Tata-owned  Air India’s network will gain over 400 weekly flights over the next few months, split equally between domestic and international flights. Moreover, it will induct over 30 widebody and narrowbody aircraft to its fleet during the winter schedule, including six A350s, four B777s and 20 A320neos. 

These include weekly frequencies on Mumbai-Singapore increasing from 7 to 13, Delhi-Bangkok from 7 to 14, Delhi-Dhaka from 7 to 12, Delhi-Newark (New Jersey) from 3 to 4, Delhi-San Francisco from 10 to 11, Delhi-Washington DC from 3 to 4, Delhi-Copenhagen from 3 to 4, Delhi-Milan from 4 to 5, and Mumbai-Doha from 7 to 9.

It has added flights on four new routes – Bengaluru-Singapore, Kochi-Doha, Kolkata-Bangkok, and Mumbai-Melbourne and is set to add four new international destinations to its network, it said.

SpiceJet will add 44 flights including new daily direct flights between Kolkata-Shillong and Mumbai-Bangkok and enhance connectivity between Chennai & Pune, Hyderabad & Kolkata and Jaipur & Delhi. The airline has also inducted eight Boeing 737s, including four 737 Max.

Akasa Air, the new entrant in the Indian civil aviation sector will operate 790 flights a week in the winter schedule, a 64.93% growth in the number of weekly departures in comparison to the previous winter schedule.

Amid the ongoing aggressive domestic and international expansion, IndiGo is yet to make any announcements in its final winter schedule. The airline is however set to start operations to Jharsuguda, Gondia and Ayodhya in the domestic market and Bali and Madina in the international markets, its chief executive officer  Pieter Elbers said during the Q2 earnings call on Friday. 

Notably, the cash-strapped Go First will not be operating any flight during the winter schedule but this could very well be compensated by IndiGo and Air India. It is noteworthy that DGCA's approved schedule usually indicates the maximum number of flights airlines can operate, actual numbers can be significantly different.