IndiGo's punctuality takes big hit amid flight disruptions, on-time performance plunges to single digits

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As flight cancellations continue across the country, IndiGo - which flies almost two out of three passengers - saw its on-time performance plunge to 8.5 per cent on Thursday.

The figures are expected to worsen amid widespread operational disruptions impacting flight schedules throughout Friday as well.

According to data from the civil aviation ministry, IndiGo recorded an on-time performance of 19.7 per cent on Wednesday, a steep fall from 35 per cent reported on Tuesday.

The OTP is an indicator of the punctuality of flights. It measures the percentage of flights that depart or arrive within a defined delay threshold, usually within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.

Suppose an Indian airline operates 100 flights in a day. If 92 flights depart within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time, then its OTP is 92%.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the OTP of Air India and Air India Express were at 61 per cent and 58.6 per cent, respectively, while that of Akasa Air stood at 63 per cent.

Notably, IndiGo, which is known for its punctuality, has been the worst-hit airline amid widespread crew woes primarily caused by shortage of pilots that was not anticipated due to planning deficiencies.

The airline had acknowledged that the flight disruptions are happening for the past few days due to misjudgment and planning gaps in implementing the second phase of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

IndiGo generally operates around 2,300 flights daily with a fleet of over 400 planes.

(With inputs from PTI)