Fewer flights, higher fares this winter

A glance at the winter schedule released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Wednesday shows that while Kingfisher Airlines has been grounded for the entire season, Air India's slots too have been reduced to 1,850 as against 1,875 last year.

Apart from Air India, others that will see reduced flights are Alliance Air, Jet Airways and JetLite. Only the slots for IndiGo, SpiceJet and Go Air – all purely no-frills airlines - have gone up.

This winter (November-March) will altogether have 10,935 weekly domestic departures – 19 per cent less than last winter's figure of 13,541. Fewer flights in this peak travel season will mean sky-high fares as the demand-supply gap will increase.