Airlines' on-time tricks

New Delhi: Airlines have taken to padding their flight-duration times to keep flights arriving on schedule, thanks to stiff competition and the aviation regulator's tough laws on flight regulations.
Interestingly, this is despite Indian carriers having one of the youngest and the newest fleet of aircraft in the world. After tough new guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) in October last year, most Indian carriers chose to add minutes to the scheduled duration to ensure that late flights officially arrive "on time" and help them smoothen their operations.
According to DGCA norms, if a particular flight is delayed several times in a month, the airline may lose its time slot when the next schedule is drawn up.
If airlines fail to stick to their allotted departure times, they could be sent to the end of the queue, where they will wait for a vacant time slot to emerge. This is mainly practiced at busy airports like Delhi and Mumbai, which have the highest air traffic congestion.
For some airlines, longer schedule times for flights reflect their inefficiency and also the aviation infrastructure, which is still unable to handle the volume of flights without delay. For others, increasing and blocking time to pump up schedules boosts their on- time rankings.
11/11/10 Sanjay Singh/India Today

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Categories: Airports Nov 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Nov 2010