Mumbai: From April, you can expect to get shorter flight durations, at least on your tickets to begin with. You could find that the journey time listed by airlines for domestic flights landing at Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru has decreased by 5-15 minutes. In an attempt to reduce air traffic congestion, the government plans to enforce slot discipline at the three airports.
One of the ways would be to cut down inflated journey time cited by airlines as a buffer against delays. Thus, proud “early arrival” announcements by domestic pilots, even on flights with delayed departures, might soon reduce.
April marks the start of airline summer schedule. The civil aviation ministry has brought out an action plan, under which regulator DGCA would need to ensure that landing/takeoff slots and block times match. (Block time is the time taken by a flight right from the moment it pushes back from the departure gate till it arrives at the destination gate.) At present, to boost their punctuality record, airlines, when applying for landing slots, typically inflate their block times by 5-15 minutes. This is why when you look up, say, a Mumbai-Delhi flight on a travel portal, you will find that the journey time listed by different carriers vary from 2 hour 5 minutes to 2 hour 25 minutes, even for departures within an hour of each other.
A study carried out by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) between September 24 and November 30 last year found that slot indiscipline was rampant. At Mumbai, 73% of flights landed over 10 minutes ahead of schedule. At Delhi, this was 52%. The study compiled departure time data from over 80 domestic airports and arrival data at Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru to look at early arrivals at these three congested airports.
A takeoff slot or a landing slot is a right granted by an airport to an airline that allows the latter to schedule a flight departure or arrival at that specific time. Slot discipline is crucial because congested airports like Mumbai handle three to four departures or arrivals every five minutes. “A flight that arrives to land before its time congests airspace. A majority of domestic flights arrive before time, making it difficult to effectively manage air traffic,” said a senior air traffic controller.
Early this month, the civil aviation ministry met stakeholders (including DGCA, airlines, AAI and private airport authorities) to check early arrivals and enforce slot discipline to be able to handle fastgrowing air traffic better.
During the meeting, AAI listed two primary reasons for early arrivals, including block time inflation. The other reason is that airlines often plan and operate departures 5-15 minutes ahead of schedule (provided passengers are seated by then).
31/01/19 Manju V/Times of India
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One of the ways would be to cut down inflated journey time cited by airlines as a buffer against delays. Thus, proud “early arrival” announcements by domestic pilots, even on flights with delayed departures, might soon reduce.
April marks the start of airline summer schedule. The civil aviation ministry has brought out an action plan, under which regulator DGCA would need to ensure that landing/takeoff slots and block times match. (Block time is the time taken by a flight right from the moment it pushes back from the departure gate till it arrives at the destination gate.) At present, to boost their punctuality record, airlines, when applying for landing slots, typically inflate their block times by 5-15 minutes. This is why when you look up, say, a Mumbai-Delhi flight on a travel portal, you will find that the journey time listed by different carriers vary from 2 hour 5 minutes to 2 hour 25 minutes, even for departures within an hour of each other.
A study carried out by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) between September 24 and November 30 last year found that slot indiscipline was rampant. At Mumbai, 73% of flights landed over 10 minutes ahead of schedule. At Delhi, this was 52%. The study compiled departure time data from over 80 domestic airports and arrival data at Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru to look at early arrivals at these three congested airports.
A takeoff slot or a landing slot is a right granted by an airport to an airline that allows the latter to schedule a flight departure or arrival at that specific time. Slot discipline is crucial because congested airports like Mumbai handle three to four departures or arrivals every five minutes. “A flight that arrives to land before its time congests airspace. A majority of domestic flights arrive before time, making it difficult to effectively manage air traffic,” said a senior air traffic controller.
Early this month, the civil aviation ministry met stakeholders (including DGCA, airlines, AAI and private airport authorities) to check early arrivals and enforce slot discipline to be able to handle fastgrowing air traffic better.
During the meeting, AAI listed two primary reasons for early arrivals, including block time inflation. The other reason is that airlines often plan and operate departures 5-15 minutes ahead of schedule (provided passengers are seated by then).
31/01/19 Manju V/Times of India
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