Winter schedule starts with a new promise—more flights

As the Northern Winter Schedule 2025 took effect on Sunday, 26 October 2025, the domestic flight movements on the first day stood at 3,284 departures. That was 86.7% of the average daily approved schedule. The schedule has the approval of an average of 3,785 daily departures, or 26,495 weekly flights, this winter.

The first day of the schedule also saw over 5.2 lakh domestic passengers, crossing the 5 lakh barrier for the first time since February this year and just short of the all-time high of 5.26 lakh domestic passengers on a single day. This is an increase of 5.9% over the corresponding winter schedule of 2024, and a growth of 3.5% sequentially compared to the Northern Summer schedule 2025, which culminated on Saturday, 25 October 2025.

The global aviation industry works on two seasons — the Northern Summer, which runs from the last Sunday of March until the last Saturday of October, with the Northern Winter schedule being the remainder of the period, from the last Sunday of October until the last Saturday of March.

The last day of the Northern Summer schedule saw airlines operate 3,222 domestic flights in India, which is roughly 88% of the approved summer schedule. The schedule approvals are part of the process and airlines are expected to utilise the slots allocated over the period of the schedule, if not from the first day of the schedule.

IndiGo all the way

In absolute terms, IndiGo has approvals to fly 1,323 more flights a week as compared to last winter. These additional flights are in the same range of what SpiceJet or Akasa Air has approvals for, which are 1,568 and 1,027 weekly departures, respectively, which means that IndiGo is adding one Akasa Air equivalent from last winter to now. In percentage terms, the growth is highest for Fly91 (196 weekly departures, compared to 122 in winter 2024) at 60.6%, followed by Star Air at 49.4%, both on the back of a lower base.

Air India is shrinking 10%, while Air India Express is growing 11% based on the departures being allocated. Air India Express has struggled to utilise its entire allocations in the past. SpiceJet, which has also struggled to operate its schedules in line with allocations, is increasing its schedule by 20%. The airline is inducting aircraft on wet-lease, some of which are already in India and have started operations. Additionally, the airline is also scheduled to unground some of its grounded planes, helping add capacity in the domestic as well as international markets.

The regional carriers have remained where they are in terms of approved departures, with Star Air and Fly91 growing, but a massive shrinking of Flybig. The airline has not been able to operate its full schedule last season, and it is only right that the schedule shrinks to be realistic.

The shrinking of Flybig has got airports off the map and these are Aligarh, Moradabad, Chitrakoot, Shravasti and Ludhiana. Bhavnagar and Pakyong have also lost connectivity. Amravati, Purnea, Hissar and Rupsi, which were not operational last winter, make it to the list of operational airports this winter. Overall, the operational airports in India will go down to 126, compared to 129 in the just-concluded Summer schedule. With Navi Mumbai and Jewar likely to start operations soon, and the next version of RCS-UDAN scheme scheduled to take off, the count is likely to go higher, though it remains much lower than the government’s vision for connectivity.

Capacity shifting

Airlines have significant costs which are dollar- denominated. The sliding rupee, which has been over 4% during the last year, has put pressure on yields for the airlines. With limited scope to raise fares, airlines are also shifting capacity on international routes. To an extent, this helps get foreign exchange, buffering the business and yields tend to be better, seasonally.

Akasa Air has more than doubled its capacity on international routes between last November and this, while IndiGo has added over 35% additional ASK (Available Seat Kilometres) on international routes. IndiGo has had limited expansion on domestic routes while Akasa Air has also treaded along the same path, justifying why it has fewer departures this winter. Things will change if the airline manages to get deliveries from Boeing at a faster rate. While it selected the MAX series from Boeing as its fleet type, the planes beyond the white tails have been a challenge in terms of timelines.

Tail note

The Summer schedule was expected to be a bumper one but had a setback with one thing leading to another, starting with the ghastly terrorist attack at Pahalgam in April. Even as the airspace closure over Pakistan continues, airlines would hope for a peaceful and fruitful winter.

Can airlines stick to their approved departures or will it again be a season of false promises? We will know in due course.

The author, Ameya Joshi, is an aviation analyst.