Forced to act after MIAL didn’t: Govt on Mumbai flight cut directive

Forced to act after MIAL didn’t: Govt on Mumbai flight cut directive

NEW DELHI: The aviation ministry’s directive to Adani Group’s Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) for reducing flights was issued after the operator did not “proactively” act on the issue of “excessive slot distribution”. The Jyotiraditya Scindia-led ministry late on Tuesday night said Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMI) “suffers from congestion and excess capacity on its runways which inadvertently leads to air space congestion, where flights are forced to hover over the city for a long duration of around 40-60 minutes.” About 40 flights will need to be cut on a daily basis to restore a semblance of punctuality at the choked Mumbai Airport.

Airports Authority of India (AAI), which provides air navigation services, had analysed the situation to tackle the issue of airspace congestion in Mumbai. This study found “air traffic permitted per hour during the six hours of ‘high intensity runway operations’ (HIRO) from 8-11 am and 5-8 pm was almost equal to air traffic permitted per hour during the remaining 18 hours of the day. In addition, general aviation (charters) and military aircraft operations were also allowed without any restrictions. Besides, owing to presence of transverse (cross) runways, operation of non-scheduled flights further increases air traffic congestion during peak hours,” the ministry said in a statement.

Despite CSMIA running at full capacity, “persistent congestion” was found to be caused by — excessive slot distribution with limited time margins by the airport operator, non-adherence of slots by airlines and non scheduled operations during peak hours. “Being the slot provider and manager of slots to airlines, the airport operator (MIAL) should have proactively taken steps to streamline and regulate air traffic movement to resolve this problem. However since no such action was initiated by them, aviation ministry had to step in,” it added.

The action was in the form of AAI issuing a notice to airmen (NOTAM) on Jan 2, 2024, restricting air traffic movement (ATM) during HIRO and 9.15-11.15 pm from 46 to 44 per hour and in non-HIRO period from 44 to 42 period. In addition, general aviation aircraft operations during HIRO period have also been restricted. “It is expected that MIAL should take immediate action to ensure that all airlines are on board with the prescribed restrictions… This action has been taken in larger public interest from perspective of airspace safety, efficiency of operations and passenger satisfaction,” it said.

Apart from delays, Mumbai congestion and flights’ hovering for 40-60 minutes has serious economic and ecological implications too. “Considering that an aircraft on an average consumes 2000 kg fuel per hour, such long duration circling time causes significant wastage of fuel for the aircrafts ranging from 1.7 kilolitres of jet fuel (costing about Rs 1.8 lakh) for a 40-minute circling time in air to about 2.5 kilolitres (costing about Rs. 2.6 lakhs) for a 60-minute circling time…. increase in fuel cost would eventually be borne by consumers. This also has a cascading effect on the efficiency of airports operations leading to a longer wait time, inordinate delays, affecting both passengers and airlines adversely.”

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