Mumbai: How some airlines meet punctuality mark

Akasa Air has topped the OTP chart for five consecutive months. Representation Pic

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently released the on-time performance (OTP) report of major domestic airlines operating at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai for February. According to the report, Akasa Air emerged as the leader with an OTP of 62.7 per cent, while Alliance Air slipped at the bottom of the list with an OTP of 38.13 per cent. mid-day spoke to the airlines and staff from the airlines topping the list to find out how they managed a decent on-time performance despite delay conditions at CSMIA.

Leading the chart

A spokesperson from Akasa Air said, "Akasa Air has established various processes in its network and operations design. We have proactively established certain measures such as routine time and motion studies along with intricate training of employees to ensure smooth and punctual operations."

Airlines and staffers speak

A senior staffer from Vistara commented, "The delay caused by Air Traffic Control or technical difficulties with the aircraft are out of our hands but as crew, we make sure there is no delay from our end by reaching the airport on time if it is our first flight of the day. If it is not the first flight, we make sure we are present at the airport most of the time which means no delay from our end."

Giving an example, the staffer said, "If our first leg is from Delhi to Mumbai, usually, the second leg we fly is from the Mumbai airport itself. This ensures that the crew is on time for the flight. In some extreme cases, we have our second leg scheduled from some other airport. In these cases, the airline makes arrangements for us to travel to the other airport from where the next leg is scheduled."

Another cockpit crew staffer from Vistara said, "If the delay is massive due to a cascading effect, the airlines have to bear the costs of getting in a fresh cabin and cockpit crew as there are restrictions on the number of hours an individual can be on flight duty. This restriction, also known as flight duty time limitation (FDTL), is to ensure that both [the cockpit and cabin crew] are not fatigued."

He added, "Delays caused at the CSMIA are not just because of the flight technical issues or ramp difficulties but are caused due to various factors like lack of parallel taxiway which causes the aircraft to hold on the ground till the traffic ahead of an aircraft or air-bound traffic is cleared. Also, the allocation of slots under targeted off-block time (TOBT) plays a crucial role in controllers planning the departure and arrival sequence. The TOBT needs to be updated by all the airlines under airport collaborative decision making (ACDM)."

A staffer from SpiceJet said, "I have worked with various airlines during my tenure as a pilot. Another reason for the delay at CSMIA which I have noted across the years of my service : CSMIA also handles cargo flights and business jets, which disturbs the airline movements as the slots allocated by the airport operators have to be rescheduled by these movements. Congestion is also caused due to excessive slot distribution with limited time margins, non-adherence of the slots, and non-scheduled operations during peak hours leads to more delays." This reporter contacted Vistara for an official comment but the airlines refused to comment on the matter.

62.7%
OTP result of Akasa Air