More than 300 flights delayed in August

More than 300 flights that took off and landed in Mumbai in August were delayed frequently (more than 20% of the times they were operated), according to the data released by the civil aviation ministry on Thursday. Soubhik Mitra reports.

More than 300 flights that took off and landed in Mumbai in August were delayed frequently (more than 20% of the times they were operated), according to the data released by the civil aviation ministry on Thursday.

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The number of frequently delayed flights in August stood at 305, a dip from the 330 flights frequently delayed in July. The August figure is the second lowest in the last five months.

In April, the aviation ministry had asked the Mumbai airport operator to draw a list of most delayed flights. In May, the airport witnessed the lowest number of frequently delayed flights.

“Airline have failed to show any major improvement but the move has generated awareness about reducing delays,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official requesting anonymity.

The ministry’s move was aimed at warning passengers about the flights to avoid and also discipline airlines.

Airlines could lose permission to operate flights that regularly feature in the list during the forthcoming winter schedule from October 2011 to March 2012. Flights delayed owing to bad weather are not included in the list.

Jet Airways continued to top the list of most delayed arrivals with 51 of its city-bound flights featuring on the list. The national carrier Air India topped the list of operating the maximum number of flights taking off from the city behind schedule regularly with 39 of its flights making to the list.

Some flights operated last month were delayed every time they were operated. For instance, IT 512, Kingfisher Airline’s daily flight to Goa missed its take-off deadline everyday in August.

Similarly, Air India’s flight to Ahmedabad AI 130 was delayed on 30 out of the 31 times it flew out of Mumbai.