Over the past few weeks, the struggle for survival at Jet Airways, shortage of pilots at IndiGo Airlines and the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes at SpiceJet have resulted in scores of flights being cancelled. Passengers are vexed by the inconvenience and rising airfares. Things could deteriorate if the proposed financial salvage of Jet Airways fails and IndiGo’s operational troubles prolong.
Indeed, 2019 could prove worse than calendar 2018, when there was a sharp spike in the number of domestic air passengers affected by flight cancellations. From about 1.68 lakh in 2017, the number of passengers impacted shot up by more than 80 per cent to 3.08 lakh in 2018, according to data from aviation regulator DGCA.
From about 1 in every 1,000 in 2017, the number of domestic passengers affected by flight cancellations in 2018 rose to more than 2 in every 1,000. This number shot up to 3 in every 1,000 in January 2019 and is certain to have increased in February and March 2019 when the woes at Jet, IndiGo and SpiceJet manifested.
The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines has been increasing — from an average of 0.7 per cent in 2017 to 1.11 per cent in 2018 and to 1.81 per cent in January 2019. The sharp jump in impacted passengers in 2018 was primarily on account of IndiGo, the country’s largest airline. From about 52,000 in 2017, the number of passengers affected by IndiGo’s cancellations jumped more than three-fold to 1.75 lakh in 2018. Nearly 6 out of every 10 impacted passengers in 2018 were IndiGo customers, up from 3 in 2017.
Among the reasons for this deterioration were the airline’s ongoing troubles with its A320neo aircraft and the grounding of some of these planes last year. Also, Air India, AirAsia India and Vistara saw a 50-75 per cent jump in the number of affected passengers. In contrast, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and GoAir improved their performance with the number of impacted passengers 5-30 per cent lower in 2018 compared with 2017.
17/03/19 Anand Kalyanaraman/Business Line
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Indeed, 2019 could prove worse than calendar 2018, when there was a sharp spike in the number of domestic air passengers affected by flight cancellations. From about 1.68 lakh in 2017, the number of passengers impacted shot up by more than 80 per cent to 3.08 lakh in 2018, according to data from aviation regulator DGCA.
From about 1 in every 1,000 in 2017, the number of domestic passengers affected by flight cancellations in 2018 rose to more than 2 in every 1,000. This number shot up to 3 in every 1,000 in January 2019 and is certain to have increased in February and March 2019 when the woes at Jet, IndiGo and SpiceJet manifested.
The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines has been increasing — from an average of 0.7 per cent in 2017 to 1.11 per cent in 2018 and to 1.81 per cent in January 2019. The sharp jump in impacted passengers in 2018 was primarily on account of IndiGo, the country’s largest airline. From about 52,000 in 2017, the number of passengers affected by IndiGo’s cancellations jumped more than three-fold to 1.75 lakh in 2018. Nearly 6 out of every 10 impacted passengers in 2018 were IndiGo customers, up from 3 in 2017.
Among the reasons for this deterioration were the airline’s ongoing troubles with its A320neo aircraft and the grounding of some of these planes last year. Also, Air India, AirAsia India and Vistara saw a 50-75 per cent jump in the number of affected passengers. In contrast, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and GoAir improved their performance with the number of impacted passengers 5-30 per cent lower in 2018 compared with 2017.
17/03/19 Anand Kalyanaraman/Business Line
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