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Turbulence in the aviation sector seems to be impacting passenger services. In November, over 1.44 lakh passengers were affected due to poor services compared to 1.04 lakh passengers in October and 1.34 lakh in November 2017.
Cumulatively, the airline industry lost approximately ₹334.75 lakh in November 2018 as compared to ₹276.52 lakh in October this year in the form of compensation, according to the data released by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
D Sudhakara Reddy, President, Air Passengers Association, said, “Several airlines are facing issues of aircraft turn-around time, and financial constraints. These have impacted the passengers. India also faces issues of airport infrastructure leading to delay in flights as well. We are in constant connect with the DGCA on the same and hopefully there should be lesser problems in the future.”
Capacity additions
Indian airlines flew 11.03 per cent more passengers in November 2018 as compared to the same time last year. According to the DGCA data analysed by CRISIL, on a year-on-year basis, the Indian airlines added 20 per cent more seat capacity in November.
Low-cost carriers were bullish in adding 90 per cent of the total capacity addition. On the other hand, capacity additions by full-service carriers have relatively been muted due to the financial constraints of the players.
In November 2018, on-time performance of three major carriers such as Indigo, SpiceJet and Air India underwent a decline, while that of the other three carriers — Jet Airways, Go Air and Vistara — have shown a significant improvement, Hetal Gandhi, Director, CRISIL Research, said.
According to Gandhi, “This significant growth in capacities along with capacity constrained airports is the main reason for delays/cancellations during the month. This is mainly due to a late arrival in aircraft resulting in delay in take-off of subsequent flight and so on.”
OTP chart
Over 62.2 thousand Indigo passengers were affected in November which was 50.72 per cent higher than October and 6.48 per cent more on a year-on-year basis. The airline had 0.70 per cent of cancellations in November as compared to 0.14 per cent in same time last year. The airline’s On Time Performance (OTP) dropped from 80.4 per cent in November 2017 to 79.2 per cent in November this year. The airline had 233 complaints registered in November.
State-run Air India’s lack of services impacted 39.18 thousand passengers in November as compared to 31.34 thousand passengers same time last year. The airline had among the most number of cancellations with over 2.74 per cent (1.04 per cent). The OTP, too, dipped from 69.3 per cent from November 2017 to 64 per cent in November this year. The airline last month carried 14.18 lakh passengers and has 247 complaints registered in the same month, of which 85 are still unaddressed.
For Spicejet, In November this year, 30.39 thousand passengers were affected as compared to 19.48 thousand passengers affected the same time last year. The airline had an OTP of only 78.3 per cent, however, the number of complaints registered were only 20.
For Jet Airways and its LCC Jet Line, in November 2017, the airlines’ delays impacted 9,081 fliers, while this year the number was 4,051. Its OTP improved from 54.1 per cent in November 2017 to 76.6 per cent. The airline had 240 complaints registered in November this year.
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