Bad news for domestic air travellers, the cancellations and delays are only getting worse. According to the data by civil aviation ministry, cancellations of flights in 2018 have doubled over the previous years. Effectively, from the previous average of 17 flights daily in 2016 and 15 in 2017, the cancellations have shot up to around 31 daily aborted flights. However, the delays have remained static with the average hovering around 267 daily delays.
Data on flight operations shows that of the 23,491 flights cancellations between 2016 and 2018, 48 per cent (11,438 flights) were in 2018 itself. Incidentally, even as IndiGo has the largest share for domestic traffic, it also has the most cancellations with 3,338 cancellations in 2018, followed by Air India with around 2,839 flight cancellations. Only Jet Airways and JetLite had a turnaround from the previous years with cancellations coming down from 1,124 in 2016 to 799 in 2018.
Several reasons have been attributed to this sudden spike in cancellations. While the three major airlines claimed, when asked by the Rajya Sabha, "At times, flights are delayed and even cancelled due to operational, technical, weather and commercial reasons", it has also emerged that the Airbus A-320 neo planes were also a factor. Several IndiGo and Go Air flights use the planes powered by certain Pratt and Whitney engines, which were grounded due to technical engine problems. However, Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation consultant said, "The neo factor was there in 2018, but crew shortage and mechanical failures are also some reasons why so many scheduled flights are being cancelled. 2018 has 100 per cent increase, and ideal cancellations increase should not be more than 10 to 15 per cent."
25/02/19 Mehul R Thakkar/DNA
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Data on flight operations shows that of the 23,491 flights cancellations between 2016 and 2018, 48 per cent (11,438 flights) were in 2018 itself. Incidentally, even as IndiGo has the largest share for domestic traffic, it also has the most cancellations with 3,338 cancellations in 2018, followed by Air India with around 2,839 flight cancellations. Only Jet Airways and JetLite had a turnaround from the previous years with cancellations coming down from 1,124 in 2016 to 799 in 2018.
Several reasons have been attributed to this sudden spike in cancellations. While the three major airlines claimed, when asked by the Rajya Sabha, "At times, flights are delayed and even cancelled due to operational, technical, weather and commercial reasons", it has also emerged that the Airbus A-320 neo planes were also a factor. Several IndiGo and Go Air flights use the planes powered by certain Pratt and Whitney engines, which were grounded due to technical engine problems. However, Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation consultant said, "The neo factor was there in 2018, but crew shortage and mechanical failures are also some reasons why so many scheduled flights are being cancelled. 2018 has 100 per cent increase, and ideal cancellations increase should not be more than 10 to 15 per cent."
25/02/19 Mehul R Thakkar/DNA
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