Air-India’s CMD Arvind Jadhav has written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), saying ground congestion at the Mumbai airport is affecting the carrier’s overall on-time performance (OTP) figures. Air India operates the highest number of flights from Mumbai.

Since October 5, the airport’s secondary runway has been shut for four months to help complete reconstruction. Since October 27, the intersection of the cross-runways too has been closed for six hours every Tuesday for re-carpeting work. Half the primary runway too is shut; as a result, the airport sees 80-100 fewer aircraft movements.

“We had asked the DGCA that when they announce the airlines’ OTP figures, they should mention this particular information about the Mumbai airport so that passengers will understand and won’t blame the airline for the delays,” said a senior Air India official. The official said the top management is trying to improve Air India’s OTP. “Had there not been any ground congestion at the Mumbai airport, our October figures would have been better,” he said.

The DGCA’s October OTP figures places Paramount Airlines, Kingfisher, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Go Air ahead of Air India. Air India’s OTP is 69.8 per cent, just ahead of Jet Airways’ 68.1 per cent. The DGCA chart does mention the fact that the repair work at the Mumbai airport has affected the OTP of some airlines.

“The reason Kingfisher’s figures are ahead of Jet and ours is that they operate most flights out of Bangalore; Air India and Jet operate the most from Mumbai,” said the AI official.

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