Airport bottleneck forces airlines to cut expansion plans

New Delhi: The Mumbai airport has decided not to allow additional flights this summer, thanks to infrastructure bottlenecks.
This is likely to spoil the expansion plans of all carriers, including private players like Kingfisher, Simplifly Deccan and Jet Airways.
The decision was taken in a meeting held among officials of the civil aviation ministry, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, airport functionaries and the network planning executives of all major carriers last week.
"We have had no option but to juggle around our flight schedules because of this decision. I think in this case we are more or less in the same boat with other carriers," said Hitesh Patel, vice-president, Kingfisher Airlines.
Kingfisher has had to shelve its plans of 11 additional flights out of Mumbai to various other sectors including Delhi.
Simplifly Deccan, which is reworking its summer schedule after the meeting, might have to cut around five of its additional planned flights out of Mumbai.
Mumbai is not the only case in point. Airline executives said that operating to most metros will pose serious problems this summer.
18/03/08 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Mar 2008