After DGCA rap, airlines rework Mumbai arrival schedule

Mumbai: As many as 45 flights across all airlines have reworked their schedules to adjust their departure from the city of origin to the allotted arrival slots in Mumbai.
The change happened after the ministry of civil aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) cracked down on flights cheating on their block time (time taken by a flight between place of origin and destination).
The DGCA had identified 70 flights arriving in Mumbai earlier than their scheduled arrival time. These flights had not adjusted their departure time from the city of origin, to correspond with the allotted arrival time. They were congesting the airspace in the peak traffic hours. Twenty-five flights coming to Mumbai still need to reschedule.
Officials said the rescheduling would help reducing flight delays drastically during peak traffic hours. Currently, delays during the peak hours (between 9.30 pm to 11 pm) go up to an hour or more. However, with these flights landing on their designated time, delays are likely to reduce by 20-30 minutes. During these hours, more flight movements are sanctioned than are allowed.
To add to it, those which are not scheduled also come and jam the skies. These flights are the ones that land before their scheduled time, said a senior airport official. There were around 70 such early but untimely arrivals at Mumbai after 6 pm.
With 45 flights coming on time and not interfering with other flights, delays and hold time will automatically reduce, said the official.
23/04/11 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Apr 2011