Take off on time or go to end of queue, check in early or miss flight………..Ranjani Raghavan
From Friday, if airlines flying out of Mumbai miss their departure slot, they will get a chance to take off only at the next vacant slot available, even if it is two or three hours later. The decision was among the many arrived at today to reduce delays and decongest the country’s second busiest airport.
Another decision was that passenger check-in will be closed 30 to 40 minutes before departure. Airlines will have to ensure that no passenger is allowed to board 30 minutes prior to departure.
This is especially targeted at VIP passengers. “Many VIPs tend to walk in 20 minutes ahead of the departure time and this results in cascading delay for other passengers who were on time. Air India is especially facing this problem as they do not know how to handle VIPs who report late,” said an official, who was also present in the meeting.
The decisions were taken in a meeting called by the Civil Aviation Ministry with representatives of all airlines, the ATC, the DGCA and MIAL. Another meeting in the first week of August will review the effectiveness of these measures in reducing flight delays.
Special focus will be on early morning departures, to ensure there are no early delays that could have a cascading effect.
“Airlines will have to apply for push-back clearance 15 minutes before departure and queue up on the runway for takeoff. This was decided in October 2009, but it is not happening. Push-back clearance will expire within five minutes. If the airline has not acted upon it, then it will have to wait for the next vacant slot , however late it is, and give way for the next flight to takeoff. All airlines were taken on board on this decision,” said an official who attended the meeting.
Sources said that these decisions will be implemented first at the CSIA in Mumbai and subsequently in Delhi over the next week.