13 Feb 2024
The move will force airlines to cancel up to 40 daily flights, besides charters, to ease congestion and improve on-time flight performance.
The Union government asked the Mumbai airport to reduce the number of daily flights and restrict business jet movement to curb congestion. Mumbai is the second busiest airport in the country after Delhi.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) directed the airport to decrease aircraft movement from 46 to 44 during peak hours and from 44 to 42 during non-peak hours. This will push IndiGo to curb at least 18 flights per day, the highest number of daily departures. The Air India Group, including Vistara, will have to reduce 17 daily flights.
Moreover, the curfew on daily operations of business jets has been spiked from four to eight hours. This has drawn protests from Reliance Industries, Mahindra Group, and JSW.
The airport’s declining on-time performance led to this directive. Airport network operators said this could incite severe challenges related to aircraft redeployment and compensation payouts to affected passengers, causing financial losses.