Air India reports steepest on-time performance fall in June, shows data

The punctuality of Air India’s flights declined over 13 per cent in June, which was the steepest fall month-on-month for any Indian airline, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s data.

The airline, run by the Tata group, saw its average daily on-time performance (OTP) drop from 83.27 per cent in May to 69.92 per cent in June, according to the data, which has been reviewed by Business Standard. SpiceJet remains at the bottom of the OTP chart with its punctuality dipping from 66.91 per cent in May to 63.38 per cent.

Air India’s OTP nosedived especially during June 11-15 when its average daily OTP fell below 50 per cent. This happened due to its old crew rostering system, which could not handle the disruption created by cyclone ‘Biparjoy’ on India’s western coast. The sudden grounding of two planes also added to the carrier’s woes.

To make sure that such things don’t happen again, the carrier’s Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director Campbell Wilson had on June 16 said that the airline was investing in a “leading-edge software” so that flight crew can be quickly reassigned and passengers can be immediately rebooked if there is any similar disruption. This software will be completely operational by early 2024.

Air India and SpiceJet did not respond to queries sent by Business Standard on Monday.