1 in 4 domestic flights delayed

1 in 4 domestic flights delayed\

NEW DELHI: Frequent fliers' common complaint of rampant delays by domestic airlines may be well-founded. The government has found that almost one
in every four domestic departures is delayed, which means the aircraft gets airborne at least 15 minutes after the schedule time of departure. While IndiGo and Jet lead the on-time performance chart, north Indian regional carrier MDLR is right at the bottom.

The data emerged from a study done by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which has started a regular process of monitoring on-time performance of airlines every fortnight. As part of the process, airlines need to give specific reason of delay for each flight along with this data.

The aviation ministry will analyse the factors that cause delays, rate them in order of sharing the blame and resolve them accordingly. DGCA is sharing the on-time performance data only with airlines so as to analyse the reasons for delay with them.

A senior official of an airline that shared the data with TOI said: "Airlines alone are not at fault. We try our best to stick to schedules and keep our flyers happy. While we may share some blame, what can even the best performer do if its aircraft hovers over Mumbai for 50 minutes before landing? Or if our plane lands in Delhi on time and then takes 25 minutes to reach the domestic terminal from the far away new runway?"

The report, which analysed performance data for flights from April 27 to May 10, 2009, says "reactionary reasons" like late arrival of aircraft from previous sector accounts for 81% of delays.

Once an aircraft is delayed for reasons like waiting for crew, slow boarding of passengers or baggage, then it has to suffer consequential delays all day long for its other sectors. Technical reasons like snags account for another 4% of delays.

While a DGCA study has found that almost one in every four domestic departures is delayed, its report admits airlines alone are not at fault.

Close to 3% delays take place due to air traffic management systems and about 2% are caused by flight operations at airports.

‘‘Flight clearance time by ATC regularly goes up during the morning and evening shift change times at the tower control. At several airports like Goa and Delhi, the small size of airport and lack of security personnel, respectively, increase boarding time for passengers,’’ said a pilot.

DGCA, however, is not indulging in any blame game. Airlines have been asked to list all their problems with airports and ATC, apart from looking within, and then each issue would be dealt threadbare.

Apart from the basic factor of causing passenger inconvenience, delays also disrupt airport and airspace capacity.

Slots are given to airlines and if planes don’t fly by them, they will arrive at airports at times meant for others. This leads to congestion, delayed arrivals and once an aircraft is delayed at any airport, all other flights it has to undertake during the day get pushed off schedule.

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