The aviation regulator has also asked all airports to increase their surveillance and to ensure COVID-19 protocols are being adhered to as it believes the compliance at some airports is not satisfactory.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on March 30 approved 18,843 flights per week from 108 airports for the summer schedule, which begins on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Sunday of October.
As part of the approved Northern Summer Schedule 2021, InterGloble Aviation Ltd run IndiGo airlines will operate 8,749 weekly flights from 66 destinations.
Air India and its subsidiary Alliance Air will operate 1,683 flights from 54 destinations and SpiceJet will operate 2,854 flights from 48 destinations for the summer schedule.
Similarly, GoAir will operate 1,747 flights to and from 35 destinations. The aviation regulator has also asked all airports to increase their surveillance and to ensure COVID-19 protocols are being adhered to as it believes the compliance at some airports is not satisfactory.The DGCA said it may also consider levying fines against the passengers that are seen violating the COVID-19 protocol.The regulators decision comes on the back of a resurgence in coronavirus cases in India. The country witnessed 56,211 new COVID-19 cases being reported in the past 24 hours, taking the total tally of confirmed cases so far to 1.20 crore. India has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases after US and Brazil.
India resumed domestic passenger flight operations on May 25 last year, after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.
At that time, airlines were permitted to operate a maximum of 33 per cent of their pre-COVID flights. This was gradually increased to 80 per cent.
