New airport panel to keep tabs on Delhi, Mum flight schedule

Mumbai: Taking serious note of flight delays, the civil aviation ministry has asked Mumbai and Delhi airports to set up a special committee that will analyse on-time performance of airlines on a daily basis.
In an air transport circular sent to Mumbai and Delhi last week, the ministry directed the airport operator, airline officials and traffic controllers to send daily reports on on-time performance of flights and the reasons for delays. Experts see this as an effort to maintain flight schedule discipline, as practised at many international airports abroad.
"This is an initiative by the ministry to check airlines' on-time performance. We have been meeting every day to monitor deviation from schedule and analyse the reasons,'' a Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said.
Airlines, so far, have been sending performance data to the directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA) on a monthly basis. Now, however, all details are collated and sent across by the airport operator to a dedicated task force in Delhi. This is the second step taken by the ministry to bring airlines to book for not maintaining time discipline.
The ministry has already started releasing monthly lists of airlines' on-time performance. The May data, for instance, shows business-class airline Paramount having the best on-time schedule record (89%), followed by Indigo (85.7%) and Jet Airways (84.4%). The second list is likely to be declared on Monday.
12/07/09 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Jul 2009