Passengers on cash-strapped SpiceJet are experiencing the most flight disruptions in India, the world’s fastest-growing aviation market.
With the busy summer travel season arriving, only 61 percent of SpiceJet’s flights departed on time from the country’s four biggest airports – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad – in May, Bloomberg reported, citing Directorate General of Civil Aviation data.
SpiceJet’s punctuality woes continue
For the troubled budget carrier, this is a further deterioration in service from the already trailing figure of nearly 70 percent in April, according to the regulator’s data.
SpiceJet is “striving hard to continuously improve performance on all aspects, including our on-time performance,” a spokesperson said, the Bloomberg report said.
SpiceJet, which is operating about 250 flights a day, isn’t alone. Air India, the nation’s second-largest carrier, slid to fifth from second in the punctuality ranks, with almost twice as many flight delays in May as a month earlier.
Akasa Air, launched less than a year ago, was the most on-time, though its performance also slipped.
Frequent delays underscore the challenges of the post-pandemic boom in India’s intensely competitive aviation market.
Travel surges during the school holidays in May and June, and carriers struggled to keep pace. Demand for some routes was higher than normal after the insolvent Go Airlines India Ltd. stopped selling tickets in May, placing a greater burden on the country’s flight networks.
Domestic passenger traffic climbed 15 percent to 13.2 million in May from the month earlier.
The weather also isn’t helping, and social media is awash with complaints about long flight delays and occasional cancellations.
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