All flight spots for summer booked

NEW DELHI: The government has stopped issuing fresh flight slots to airline companies for the summer schedule beginning March-end to decongest busy airports. However, the proposal of introducing differential tariffs at airports for reducing traffic congestion has been put on the back burner.

Civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla, in a meeting with airline companies on Monday, said the peak winter season operations of 30 flights an hour from Delhi and Mumbai airports would be maintained during the summer schedule, which has just begun. However, the airline companies have requested the ministry to increase the number of flights to 35 per hour during busy hours.

The aviation ministry is likely to take a call on this demand over the next 2-3 days. The government has already completed the allocation of flight schedules on Saturday. This proposed reduction in flight numbers during busy period is likely to impact passengers as their options would get limited. But it may help in reducing congestion at busy airports of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, where these restriction are being put in place.

The meeting was attended by senior officials of Indian, Jet Airways, Air Sahara, Kingfisher, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air Deccan, GoAir, Paramount and Indus Airways. During the 2006-07 winter season, which ended in February, the total number of flight movements was 3,446. This level is likely to be maintained during the summer schedule. Over 2,500 flights had operated during the summer season last year.

The government has also decided to start simultaneous operation of two runways in Delhi and the cross runways in Mumbai shortly. However, a decision on altering peak and non-peak hour tariffs is yet to be taken. For the time being, this proposal seems to have been deferred.