Flight delays are the biggest bugbears for air travellers in India, according to the grievance redressal forum of an online portal (AirSewa) launched by the aviation ministry in November 2016. In the almost 1.5 years since then, most complaints received about airlines are regarding flight delays and fare refunds.
The number of complaints received on AirSewa are, at best, a minuscule percentage of the actual number of flyers facing these problems but they show what issues trouble passengers the most. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data for January-December 2017 shows 13.8 lakh domestic passengers faced flights delays of over two hours.
The aviation ministry earlier this week released a draft set of passenger charter that, among other things, seeks to penalise airlines for delays. But airlines are quick to point that the major reason for delays is the failure to add airport infrastructure as air traffic exploded in the last few years.
“Mumbai is the most constrained airport in India where hovering for 30 minutes on an average is common on good days and gets much worse on bad weather days. Getting clearance to take off on time from Mumbai is very rare. Delhi is severely constrained and in peak arrival times, we have to hover for long time to get a chance to land,” said a senior commander.
Travel industry insiders say the government draft may lead to improvement in airfare refunds but issues related to airport infra that directly impact airlines — like on time performance of airlines or condition of overcrowded and choked terminals — cannot change much till India gets airports big enough to meet its requirements.
“Airlines are sought to be penalised for flight delays. The reason for majority of these delays is failure to augment airport infra as traffic grew,” said an airline official. A senior aviation ministry official said the yawning gap in airport infra available and required was caused by the over 20% growth in air traffic in last 3-4 years.
