Centre plans to penalise airlines for flight delay
The govt holds airlines responsible for delays. Airlines on their part attribute frequent delay to security and late air traffic controller clearance. Bon Voyage!
By Nirbhay Kumar, TNN |
NEW DELHI: You have got used to paying an extra tag on your air ticket thanks to the congestion charge imposed by airlines. The government now plans to penalise airlines whose flights are delayed. It would conduct a flight delay study within a month and impose fine on the airlines failing to take off on time.
“We are going to penalise airlines for missing its slots. If a flight is delayed, it means it’s not taking off at the time slot given to it and uses someone else’s slot. This causes delay to other flight and has a cascading effect. Due to delay of one flight the whole bunching happens at airports in the peak hour,” a top official in the ministry of civil aviation said.
“We would get a scientific study done of how this pattern emerges and then take the necessary step,” the official added.
Recently, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) carried out a surprise check at Delhi and Mumbai airports to find if flights were delayed. While the government holds airlines responsible for delays, airlines on their part attribute frequent delay to security and late air traffic controller (ATC) clearance.
“We keep monitoring flight delays at all the major airports regularly. Congestion at Delhi airport has gone down considerably lately and the situations has improved significantly ,” a DGCA official said. Private airlines have been levying congestion surcharge on account of extra fuel burn, circling over the city.
“It’s a very good move from the government’s part. It should start monitoring the morning schedule and penalise the airline failing to take off on time. It’s delay in the morning which causes further delay,” Spicejet CEO Siddhanta Sharma said.
Flight delays, generally, take place due to long turnaround time of the aircraft at its origin, technical snags in the plane and unavailability of pilots and crew.
“It won’t be justified on the part of the government to penalise the airline for all kinds of delay. There are various reasons for delay such as limited infrastructure, delays at security counters, ATC clearance and VIP movement, said an executive of a private airline.
“We are going to penalise airlines for missing its slots. If a flight is delayed, it means it’s not taking off at the time slot given to it and uses someone else’s slot. This causes delay to other flight and has a cascading effect. Due to delay of one flight the whole bunching happens at airports in the peak hour,” a top official in the ministry of civil aviation said.
“We would get a scientific study done of how this pattern emerges and then take the necessary step,” the official added.
Recently, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) carried out a surprise check at Delhi and Mumbai airports to find if flights were delayed. While the government holds airlines responsible for delays, airlines on their part attribute frequent delay to security and late air traffic controller (ATC) clearance.
“We keep monitoring flight delays at all the major airports regularly. Congestion at Delhi airport has gone down considerably lately and the situations has improved significantly ,” a DGCA official said. Private airlines have been levying congestion surcharge on account of extra fuel burn, circling over the city.
“It’s a very good move from the government’s part. It should start monitoring the morning schedule and penalise the airline failing to take off on time. It’s delay in the morning which causes further delay,” Spicejet CEO Siddhanta Sharma said.
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Flight delays, generally, take place due to long turnaround time of the aircraft at its origin, technical snags in the plane and unavailability of pilots and crew.
“It won’t be justified on the part of the government to penalise the airline for all kinds of delay. There are various reasons for delay such as limited infrastructure, delays at security counters, ATC clearance and VIP movement, said an executive of a private airline.
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