New Delhi: Flight delays are the biggest bugbears for air travellers in India, according to the grievance redressal forum of an online portal (AirSewa) launched by the aviation ministry in November 2016. In the almost 1.5 years since then, most complaints received about airlines are regarding flight delays and fare refunds.
The number of complaints received on AirSewa are, at best, a minuscule percentage of the actual number of flyers facing these problems but they show what issues trouble passengers the most. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data for January-December 2017 shows 13.8 lakh domestic passengers faced flights delays of over two hours.
The aviation ministry earlier this week released a draft set of passenger charter that, among other things, seeks to penalise airlines for delays. But airlines are quick to point that the major reason for delays is the failure to add airport infrastructure as air traffic exploded in the last few years.
“Mumbai is the most constrained airport in India where hovering for 30 minutes on an average is common on good days and gets much worse on bad weather days. Getting clearance to take off on time from Mumbai is very rare. Delhi is severely constrained and in peak arrival times, we have to hover for long time to get a chance to land,” said a senior commander.
In fact, the Federation of Indian Airlines, an umbrella body of Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir, had sent its comments to the ministry on the draft charter saying: “…delays, cancellations are many a times a function/consequence of infrastructure constraints — in terminals, at airside and also due to air navigation constraints and weather, all of which are not in the control of the airlines.”
25/05/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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The number of complaints received on AirSewa are, at best, a minuscule percentage of the actual number of flyers facing these problems but they show what issues trouble passengers the most. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data for January-December 2017 shows 13.8 lakh domestic passengers faced flights delays of over two hours.
The aviation ministry earlier this week released a draft set of passenger charter that, among other things, seeks to penalise airlines for delays. But airlines are quick to point that the major reason for delays is the failure to add airport infrastructure as air traffic exploded in the last few years.
“Mumbai is the most constrained airport in India where hovering for 30 minutes on an average is common on good days and gets much worse on bad weather days. Getting clearance to take off on time from Mumbai is very rare. Delhi is severely constrained and in peak arrival times, we have to hover for long time to get a chance to land,” said a senior commander.
In fact, the Federation of Indian Airlines, an umbrella body of Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir, had sent its comments to the ministry on the draft charter saying: “…delays, cancellations are many a times a function/consequence of infrastructure constraints — in terminals, at airside and also due to air navigation constraints and weather, all of which are not in the control of the airlines.”
25/05/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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