With the monsoon arrive flight delays

Mumbai: The arrival of monsoon may have come as a relief to Mumbaikars, but it has also brought grief to air travellers. While several flights were delayed by almost an hour on Monday at the Mumbai airport, six flights were diverted to Ahmedabad.
Girish Giri, who took a Spicejet flight from Chennai to Mumbai, had to spend almost two hours at Chennai airport before boarding his flight.
The heavy downpour also spoilt S Ganeshan’s commute from Delhi to the city. A journey that would have, on any other day, taken him one hour forty five minutes to complete, was extended to six hours. The Kingfisher flight on which Ganeshan was travelling left Delhi at 9.30pm instead of the scheduled 8.25pm.
Both arrivals and departures were delayed by 45 minutes to about 3 hours. “Weather is a very tricky issue over which we have no control. Bad weather coupled with congestion will definitely lead to delays of over an hour. We inform the passengers through our call centres and via SMSes. But, in case it rains badly, we request passengers to enquire with the airlines about the status of the flight,” said an airline spokesperson.
The monsoon normally also pushes up the cost of operation for airlines by more than 10%. “Due to go-arounds and flight diversions during monsoon, we burn a lot more fuel,” said an official from a private airline.
16/06/10 Naveeta Singh/Daliy News & Analysis

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jun 2010