Tata-SIA venture Vistara emerges as most punctual airline in Indian metros

Tata Sons-Singapore International Airlines (SIA) joint venture Vistara has emerged as the most punctual flight service in the metros compared to five other main domestic airlines in India. Vistara has emerged as the most punctual flight service in the metros compared to five other main domestic airlines in India.

The On Time Performance (OTP) of Vistara was rated at 87.4 per cent in the current years followed by SpiceJet (85.4), IndiGo (85.2), Air India (83.9), Go Air (80.4) and Jet Airways Jet Lite (78.7), according to figures released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation here.

Among the metros, the OTP was best in Hyderabad at 90.5 per cent, and worst at Mumbai (81.7) and good enough at Delhi (88.7) and Bangalore (88.6).

The airline sold maximum seats (5.6 per cent) in the highest fare bucket in Delhi-Leh sector and the percentage increased significantly against this indicator in Bangalore-Delhi and Mumbai-Delhi sector in April compared to March this year.

In terms of grievances, compared to other airlines Vistara recorded a low complaint rate i.e. 4 per 10,000 passengers. In contrast, Air India was at the top with maximum number of complaints (226, of which 83 still unresolved) followed by Jet Airways’ Jet Lite (211), Indigo (75), Go Air (54) Spice Jet (53), Air Asia (18), Trujet (2), and Air Carnival and Zoom Air with no complaint.

The passenger load factors of various scheduled domestic airlines in April 2017
The passenger load factors of various scheduled domestic airlines in April 2017. Photo courtesy: Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation

There were six cases of denied boarding which cost the airlines in terms of compensation and facilities. There were 481 cancellations and 2,798 passengers were impacted by flight delay beyond two hours. However, this figure pales before flag carrier Air India's record. There were 357 cases of denied boarding, 1,438 cancellations and as many as 23,813 passengers were impacted by delay beyond two hours. This was followed by IndiGo (14,341), and SpiceJet (7,337).

At 4,601, IndiGo topped the cancellations chart, followed by SpiceJet (2,085), Air India (1,438) and Jet Lite (684). Cumulatively, there were 2,702 passenger who were denied boarding, 9,980 cancellations and 51,314 were impacted by the delays beyond two hours in the domestic air service.

Various reasons of passenger complaints
Various reasons of passenger complaints.

Flight cancellation was attributed to several factors: miscellaneous (44.5), technical (27.1), weather (22.6), commercial (5.5) and operational (0.3).

People taking to flights for domestic travel grew by 17.71 per cent at 36.43 million during January-April 2017 as against 30.94 million during the corresponding period in the previous year.