Flying into Mumbai is about to become more difficult.
The winter schedule says Mumbai Airport can only take six more domestic flights daily. Currently, there are over 250 scheduled daily domestic departures from the Mumbai Airport. The winter schedule will start from October 30.
However, all other metro cities are going to record higher growth. With this, all the seven scheduled airlines will finally fly 12 per cent more flights compared to summer and 31 per cent more compared with last winter. The aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) finalised the winter schedule on receipts of proposals from various airlines and after consultations with all airports.
A senior DGCA official told
He clarified that the regulator could amend the number after the winter schedule becomes operational. Meanwhile, Puducherry will have to wait for some more time for scheduled air connectivity.
“The preparation still needs some time, so we have not decided to give permission for the time being,” the official added.
Southern cities, however, can look forward to more flights. Among the six metros, Hyderabad is going to have maximum number of additional departures followed by Bangalore and Chennai.
Thiruvananthapuram is going to see 10 additional daily flights while for Vizag, this number would be eight. Vijayawada will see six additional daily flights being operated compared to the summer schedule.
Among other cities Agra, Gaya and Kolhapur are going to have scheduled flights from this winter. On the other hand Nashik, Pathankot and Salem will be off the scheduled air connectivity.
Not only this, 13 other airports are going to see lesser connectivity during winter.
Nagpur is the most prominent among the big cities which will have fewer flights this winter followed by Srinagar.