DGCA approves 18,843 flights per week for summer schedule

Aviation regulator DGCA on Tuesday said it has approved 18,843 flights per week from 108 airports for the summer schedule, which begins on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Sunday of October.

The number of flights for this year's summer schedule has been approved keeping in mind that airlines are permitted to operate not more than 80 per cent of their pre-COVID flights.

"It may be noted that 18,843 departures per week have been finalised to/from 108 airports. Out of these 108 airports, Bareilly, Bilaspur, Kurnool and Rupasi are the new airports proposed by the scheduled airlines," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said on Twitter.

It said IndiGo's 8,749 weekly flights and SpiceJet's 2,854 have been approved for the summer schedule. GoAir's 1,747 flights, Air India's 1,683, Vistara's 1,288 and AirAsia India's 1,243 have also been approved.

India resumed domestic passenger flight operations on May 25 last year, after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown. At that time, airlines were permitted to operate a maximum of 33 per cent of their pre-COVID flights. This was gradually increased to 80 per cent.