Stuck in transit:Flight delays up by 50%

Mumbai: November may have ushered in a cheerful travel season with passenger growth increasing by 15-20%, but is has also been a month of unprecedented delays and passenger inconvenience. Flight delays were the bane of travel plans and it wasn't just at Mumbai airport, but across India. According to the figures provided by the ministry of civil aviation, last month more than 70,000 passengers in India were affected by flight delays that were longer than two hours. There has been an approximately 50% increase in the number of passengers who were inconvenienced in November when compared to previous months where the figures averaged at around 45,000 to 47,000.
In August, 46,000 passengers were affected by delays, and in September it was 45,965.
Besides delays, other inconveniences-such as flight cancellations and passengers denied boarding due to overbooking-have also gone up. Last month, 545 people were denied boarding and another 7,464 passengers were affected due to flight cancellations. The figures, say industry experts are high despite the fact that Air India (AI) did not submit its passenger data. Of the 70,698 passengers who had to suffer more than two-hour long flight delays, 29,863 were booked on Spice Jet flights. The number of Jet Airways and Kingfisher passengers affected by delays was 20,023 and 13,270 respectively.
Affected passengers were compensated by airlines. When the delay was more than two hours long, passengers were either provided refreshments or were offered a full refund of the ticket amount. Those affected by cancellations were either given hotel accommodation or offered a refund.
22/12/10 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Dec 2010