Late planes made to fly still later

Mumbai: Nearly 90 flights were given revised departure slots from Monday morning until evening as the Mumbai Air Traffic Control cracked down on airlines whose flights had missed the original slots. Most of the resulting delays were up to 30 minutes, but 15 flights were delayed by over an hour, with the maximum delay up to 1½ hours.
“Of these, 61 flights were given revised slots in the morning. As many as 15 were given slots revised by an hour in the morning,” said M G Jhungare, general manager, ATC Mumbai. The ATC said the brunt of the delays was evenly shared by nearly all airlines.
This decision to revise departure slots thus was taken last week in a meeting called by the Civil Aviation Ministry to find ways to cut down on congestion. Airlines have been told to stick to their deadlines, failing which they would forego their departure slots and take off only when a vacant slot opens up. The ATC said airlines met teething problems in the morning.
“This is a major change. Earlier there would be cascading delays for most flights because of overlapping of schedules. On Monday morning, not a single aircraft was holding for more than 10 minutes as those who applied on time were allowed to depart on time. This is the only way to ensure that airlines stick to their deadlines,” Jhungare said.
The Air Passengers Association of India said the move was affecting passengers. Its vice president Milan Zatakia said, “It is unfair for passengers to have their flights delayed this way. All stakeholders will have to decide together on how to tackle congestion. Airlines should upgrade ground infrastructure.”
20/07/10 Express India

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Categories: Airports Jul 2010