Govt says delays in flight arrivals reduced, traffic situation improved at Mumbai airport

The civil aviation ministry on Wednesday said air traffic situation has improved and delays in flight arrivals have been reduced at the Mumbai airport nearly two months after directions including a reduction in flights were issued to tackle congestion at the airport reported news agency PTIThe Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport CSMIA in the city is one of the countrys busiest airportsGiving a comparison of the air traffic trends based on flight arrivals between the time periods November 11December 10 2023 and February 1624 2024 the ministry said its initiatives are yielding results and that the situation is also being closely monitored reported PTIDuring the February 1624 period the ministry said there were 4337 arrivals at the airport and out of them there were no delays of more than one hour while 178 planes were delayed for 3060 minutes reported PTIAs many as 570 aircraft came before schedule 2469 planes were delayed for 015 minutes and 1120 aircraft for 1530 minutes as per the data reported PTIMeanwhile there were 14476 arrivals during the November 11December 10 2023 period Out of them the data showed that 1641 aircraft were delayed for more than an hour 2141 planes for 3060 minutes 2083 aircraft for 1530 minutes and 3632 planes for 015 minutes reported PTIAlso Read Fliers fume as SpiceJet flight from Ayodhya to Mumbai faces 9hour delayA total of 4979 aircraft arrived before scheduleAircraft operating earlier than the approved slot marked as before schedule in the data lead to congestion and delay for other aircraft adhering to the schedule which in turn will have a cascading effect on the other schedule movements These movements were also targeted for improvements and airlines asked to adhere to the allotted slots the statement said reported PTIThe airport has two intersecting runways which cannot be operated simultaneously So there is only single runway operations with a peak hour declared capacity of 46 aircraft movement arrival and departure per hour during High Intensity Runway Operations HIRO reported PTIThe hourly aircraft movement capacity is 44 during nonHIRO periodTo reduce congestion the ministry on January 2 directed Mumbai airport operator MIAL and Airports Authority of India AAI to restrict nonscheduled flight operations for certain time periodsLater on February 15 the ministry directed reducing aircraft movements to 44 from 46 per hour during HIRO period and to 42 from 44 during nonHIRO period reported PTIThe ministry said MIAL Mumbai International Airport Ltd in coordination with airlines has implemented the directions effective since February 20All the domestic airline operators were also advised to strictly adhere to the slots allocated by MIAL to avoid air congestion it added reported PTIFollowing the directions airlines have also reduced the number of flights operated to and from the Mumbai airport reported PTIAn analysis by AAI concluded that excessive slot allocation and poor slot adherence as major contributors to the traffic congestion at the airport following which the ministry had issued the directions including restriction of flightsWith inputs from PTI