Pushback rule a bane for air passengers

The woes of air passengers seem to have grown with the introduction of the new pushback rule.

On November 19, a Jet Konnect Mumbai-Ahmedabad flight (9W 2049) which was to take off at 1.25pm, missed its slot and got delayed by more than an hour.   

“The airline made us board the flight at 12.45pm saying that they did not want to miss the allotted slot. But even after 45 minutes, the flight did not move,” said Anita Malhotra, 35, a passenger. 

“They announced that we had missed the slot. It didn’t end there; then they told us that we were actually waiting for a group of 20 passengers who were to arrive from London and this was their connecting flight.” The passengers were made to wait for another half an hour before the flight took off.    

On November 15, a Spicejet Mumbai-Kolkata flight (SG 804) was to take-off at 6.50pm but left at 11pm. All the 350 passengers who were seated inside the aircraft had no idea that they would be stuck for five hours. Sometime after boarding, the pilot announced that they would not be able to take off due to bad weather. Later, however, the delay was attributed to the airline missing its slot. 
“These days it has become a fashion to make passengers board the plane and then keep them seated for two to three hours. It’s very frustrating and almost like a punishment,” said Sanjay Nemane, 43, a frequent passenger.   

On November 19, 95 passengers of Jet’s 9W 445 Mumbai-Hyderabad route boarded the 7.10pm flight at 6.50pm. However, at 7.10pm, they were made to alight as a group of 50 passengers from Goa was to reach Mumbai at 8.15pm to board the flight. The angry passengers raised a hue and cry on the tarmac and refused to board the plane at 8.15pm. The local police was then called in. 

According to Air Passengers Association of India (APAI), there has been an increase in such cases since the past few days. “In the last two days, our office has received three to four calls everyday about such delays where the fliers say that the airlines are making them wait in the plane for hours after they have missed the slot,” said Sudhakara Reddy, president, APAI. “But Indians are a tolerable lot. The moment the pain is over, nobody wants to pursue the complaint.”

Reddy added that the new pushback rules whereby airlines have to stick to the slots allotted to them are harming the passengers.

“The rule was not drafted properly and is without proper clauses. After the airlines miss the slot they make the passengers sit in the plane and it is not counted as delay. While the airlines are penalised by making them to wait for a fresh slot, there are no guidelines for passengers who suffer on account of the airlines’ fault,” he said.

What is the reason that an airline, which boasts of on-time performance every month, is not able to leave the ground on time?

“With the main runway 09-27 at Mumbai airport undergoing repairs since November 1, only one runway, 14-32, is available for operation. In such a scenario, the airlines which miss their slots have to wait for hours together for their turn. They cannot afford to deplane the passengers as they can get the slot within 20 minutes or it can extend upto an hour,” said an official from a private airline. 

Though the number of daily flights at Mumbai airport during the winter schedule has been reduced to 692 from 700 plus earlier, there is a normal delay of 20 minutes to 40 minutes everyday because of runway work.

“As the flights are delayed by more than 30 minutes everyday, it leads to air traffic congestion in the peak hours. While the aircrafts are doing go-arounds in the air to land at the airport, the ones readying for take-off wait to get the runway cleared for them,” said a captain from Air India (AI). 

The switchover of aircraft operations from runway 09-27 to 14-32 at 9am and back to 09-27 at 5pm is also delaying flights.

“If a flight is approaching runway 27 for landing and the switchover technically happens, it takes the pilot 20 minutes to switch from one runway to another. Same happens in the evening,” added the captain. 

Moreover, the fog in the north is also upsetting airline schedules. For instance, fog in Delhi on November 19 started a series of consequential delays. As the planes could not leave from there on time, they could not reach Mumbai on time. “As such, the flights were running 30-40 minutes behind the schedule,” he said.

According to Rajeev Batra, executive director, KPMG advisory services, whatever has been happening is not entirely the airlines’ fault.

“The delays are happening due to congestion and infrastructure issues at Mumbai airport, as only one air strip (runway) is available,” said Batra.

He added: “If the airline misses a slot and passengers have to wait in the plane for hours, then the airline also have to pay the parking fee to the airport operator.”