Indian carriers to operate 10 per cent fewer domestic flights this summer; further reduction possible

Indian airlines will operate around 10 per cent fewer domestic flights in the summer schedule starting March 29, with weekly services set to fall to a little over 23,000 compared to the same period last year.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has published the domestic summer schedule, which will be in force from March 29 to October 24, for nine scheduled airlines.A senior DGCA official on Thursday told PTI that the airlines would be operating around 10 per cent fewer flights in 2026 summer schedule compared to the previous summer schedule.During the 2025 summer schedule, airlines operated 25,610 weekly flights. A 10 per cent reduction translates into 2,561 fewer services, taking the total to around 23,049 weekly flights, according to an analysis.The nine airlines scheduled to operate flights during the 2026 summer season are Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Akasa Air, SpiceJet, Alliance Air, FLY91, Star Air and IndiaOne Air.The DGCA has released the airline-wise domestic summer schedule for 2026 on its website, but has not provided a consolidated figure or any comparison with the previous summer schedule or the ongoing winter schedule.In the current winter schedule, from October 26, 2025, to March 28, 2026, airlines were to operate 26,495 weekly flights. However, the massive operational disruptions at IndiGo in early December had an impact, and the DGCA had curtailed the carrier's winter schedule flights by 10 per cent.Against this backdrop, airline executives told PTI that there is a lot of uncertainty and there could be further reduction in the existing summer schedule itself.Meanwhile, the ongoing West Asia conflict, involving the US, Israel and Iran that started on February 28, is significantly disrupting flight services of Indian carriers to the region.The schedule was mostly prepared in January and February, a period during which there were no risks related to the Middle East conflict, which started on February 28. Now, the scenario is completely different and operational complexities have increased, one of the officials said.On March 24, IndiGo said it intends to start its domestic summer schedule with nearly 2,000 daily flights in April."IndiGo's international schedule was planned at similar levels to winter, but the deployed scale will, of course, vary based on ongoing circumstances in the Middle East. It should be noted that there is a very material escalation in operating costs, with fuel and forex-related costs expected to continue to increase very substantially, in addition to what is already an escalating cost environment," the airline had said.