DELHI: Indian airlines expect this winter to be good for business and they have added capacity like never before, beating their peers across the globe.
According to data collected from air travel intelligence, domestic market leader IndiGo leads the charts in capacity addition this winter, reports Business Standard. It added 285,660 seats in November 2016 to the capacity it had in the same month a year ago.
This makes it the fastest growing airline ahead of global low-cost majors like Ryanair, which has increased capacity by 13.7%, or 260,064 seats.
Gulf majors Qatar Airways and Emirates have increased capacity by 128,408 seats, or 17.2%, and 122,469 seats, or 9.2%, respectively. Another low-cost carrier from India, SpiceJet will fly 73,565 seats, or 29.9%, more than it did in the same period last year.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), there will be a 20.8% increase in the number of flights in winter 2016 at 16,600 a week compared to 13,744 a week last winter.
IndiGo, which plans to induct 24 Airbus A320neo aircraft in 2016-17, has proposed to operate 6,276 weekly flights. This is 42% higher than its operations in the winter of 2015. The airline has proposed new flights from Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata.
Full-service carrier Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, will have 13 aircraft by the end of this month and will operate nearly 50 per cent more flights this winter at a proposed 490 a week. The airline has proposed a new flight between Delhi and Amritsar and will expand capacity on some of its existing routes.
GoAir is increasing its flights by 25% to 1,209 a week. It will launch new services from Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The airline is adding seven aircraft this year and will increase its fleet to 27 by March 2017.
