Aviation industry says delayed arrivals at airport multipronged

Mumbai: International passengers are bound to exercise caution when they plan their trip to the city. Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), run by the GVK-backed private consortium has topped the Forbes’ list of most-delayed arrival airports in the world for 2008. Following closely, in the second position is Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Bangalore’s Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) finds itself in the fourth spot.
However, voices from the country’s aviation industry say India’s case is different from the rest of the world as the country witnessed unprecedented growth in airline traffic last year. The aviation industry, after three disastrous quarters is hoping to recover because of the drop in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices. A spokesperson from the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) also stated that delays in arrivals are consequential and the airport operator cannot alone be held responsible for this. “First of all, we’ve not seen the report and therefore do not know the parameters they’ve used in their study. However, when you talk of arrival delays and say those are almost half (50.5) of all arrivals yet we do not figure anywhere in terms of departure delays,” he said. “When we talk of delays in arrivals or departures, the delays are multi-pronged and a host of agencies are involved, like airlines, or catering companies etc. And that is why these delays are consequential delays and airport operator cannot be blamed alone,” he added.
The percentage of on-time arrivals at Mumbai airport was just 49.5 as compared to 50.89 for Delhi and 60.16 for Bangalore. The Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca, Morocco, ranked third on the list of airports with the most arrival delays at 53.83 per cent.
15/01/09 Shashank Shekhar/Express India

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Categories: Airports Jan 2009