Despite less fog readiness, SpiceJet logs lowest flight diversions

Flight diversion numbers put out by the Airports Authority of India's (AAI) Air Traffic Controller (ATC) reveal that diversions at the Delhi airport in the current fog season were lowest in three years at 50.
Diversions have more than halved from 143 in 2013; there were 89 diversions in 2012 and 57 in 2011.

Among the airlines, budget carrier SpiceJet registered the lowest diversions at 2, followed by GoAir at 6, Jet Airways at 7, IndiGo at 14 and Air India at 21.

In terms of the rate of diversion of each airline too, SpiceJet, which had 31 Delhi flights, was the lowest at 6.45%, followed by Jet, with 90 flights from Delhi, at 7.77%. IndiGo which has the highest number of Delhi flights at 102 had the third lowest diversion rate of 13.72%, followed by GoAir with 27 Delhi flights at 22.22%. Air India with 94 Delhi flights had the highest rate of diversion at 22.34%.

The diversion number of the current year at the Delhi airport shows that the trend was reversing. It had been rising over the last three years due to haphazard flight and crew planning, inaccurate weather forecast and ill-equipped airport and aircraft. This had made the airport regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) take stern measures to improve the situation to make Delhi airport zero diversional.

Among the many directives it had put out, one of them was making it mandatory for airlines to make their aircraft and crew CAT III B compliant. A CAT III B level of instrument landing system (ILS) on aircraft helps pilots land in visibility of less than 100 metres depending on the type of aircraft.

Interestingly, however, low-cost airline IndiGo, which operates Airbus's A320 aircraft that has inbuilt CAT III B system, had a much higher rate of diversion than SpiceJet, which does not have a single aircraft equipped with CAT III B system. SpiceJet operates aircraft that have CAT III A level of ILS.

Air India, which operates both Airbus and Boeing aircraft, has most of its planes equipped with CAT III B system; however they are yet to be certified by the aviation regulatory body.

A senior executive with a low-cost airline, who did not want to be named, said there were many other things that went into cutting the diversion rate than just upgrading aircraft to CATIII B level.

"Besides installing CTA III B, there are a lot of other things that needs to be done to improve diversion rate. If an airline intelligently deploys its planes and crews that are CAT III A and CATIII B compliant and closely monitors weather and plans its flight schedule, it can manage its diversion rates very well," he said.

A SpiceJet executive, who did not want to be named, said Boeing planes do not come with in-built CAT III B system, and upgrading them to that level would cost it close to $5 million per aircraft.

"It does not make sense for us to spend such a huge amount on it for just 2-5 fog days in a year. Last year, the civil aviation ministry allowed us (to operate planes that were not CAT III B compliant) and we have been able to manage to keep our diversion rate low, and it (low diversion rate) is quite achievable without upgrading the level of ILS," he said.

The other measures that were recommended by the DGCA last year included upgrading of near-by airports like Lucknow, Jaipur and Amritsar to CAT III B level of ILS so that planes from Delhi could land there. This is yet to happen, though. It had also suggested improving meteorological facilities and runway radar coverage at the Delhi airport.