The civil aviation ministry stated on Wednesday that the air traffic situation and flight delays at Mumbai airport have shown improvement. The ministry has been actively monitoring the situation and is determined to alleviate passenger inconveniences. In February, the Airport Authority of India, responsible for air navigation services, directed the airport to reduce aircraft movement during peak and non-peak hours. This decision was made after an analysis revealed that the airport had assigned excessive slots, leading to congestion. The airport operator was faulted for failing to regulate and streamline aircraft movements.
The directive resulted in airlines cancelling hundreds of flights until March 30. To further streamline operations, the curfew on business jets was extended from four hours to eight hours.
To demonstrate the positive impact of the ministry’s initiatives, a comparison was made between air traffic trends during the periods of November 11 to December 10, 2023, and February 16 to 24, 2024. According to the ministry, the situation is being closely monitored, and the initiatives are yielding discernible results.
During the period of February 16 to 24, there were a total of 4,337 arrivals at the airport. Out of these, none experienced delays of over one hour, while 178 flights experienced delays between 30 to 60 minutes.
The ministry highlighted that aircraft operating before their approved slots contributed to congestion and delays for other flights adhering to their schedules. Such delays had a cascading effect on other scheduled movements. Airlines were urged to adhere to allotted slots, and improvements were targeted to correct these movements.
Mumbai airport operates with two intersecting runways that cannot be utilized simultaneously.
