Day 3: Flight delays vanish into thin air

On Wednesday, only one-tenth of the average number of late flights were sent to the back of the take-off queue.

Flight delays at Mumbai airport have almost been eliminated in the span of two days.

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On Wednesday, only one-tenth of the average number of late flights were sent to the back of the take-off queue.

The number of flights missing their departure slots came down to 6 from 60 on Monday.

The airport operator said that six out the eight domestic carriers recorded 100 per cent on-time performance during peak hours, which are from 5:30 am to 9 am, with only the main runway available for operations.

The secondary runway was shut because of bad weather.

“An in-built complacency across airlines was the main cause of delays but a stringent move by the regulator has put everybody on their toes,” said Jitendra Bhargava, former head of Air India’s committee to improve on on-time performances.

Two other independent sources from private airlines told Hindustan Times that none of the stakeholders bothered to respect schedules because there was no accountability for delays.

But for the past two days, late flights which were a persistent problem at the Mumbai airport, have vanished because of the rule.

Airlines, however, refused to comment on how delays disappeared overnight.