A number of airlines including Jet Airways, SpiceJet and IndiGo have started taking necessary measures in terms of aircraft parking, network planning and training pilots for low-visibility conditions to tackle the menace of fog, which in the previous winters had created huge problems for most of the airlines.
For starters, unlike last year, both Delhi-based carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet have a majority of their aircraft parked in destinations apart from the Delhi airport, which causes maximum flight disruptions among major airports in the country due to fog. Company sources said while SpiceJet had 40 per cent of its total fleet of 15 aircraft parked in Delhi last winter, they will have only 33 per cent of their fleet parked this year. IndiGo again has two-thirds of its fleet parked in destinations outside Delhi. Last year, seven out of its total fleet of 14 aircraft were parked at the Delhi airport.
SpiceJet, whose Delhi operations comprise a lesser chunk of its total operations, has decided not to increase the capacity of its Delhi operation this winter, while adding significantly to its Mumbai operation.
“Our departures from Delhi are a smaller chunk of our total flights this winter compared to the last one. Last year, 24 out of 100 flights were out of Delhi, while this year 26 out of 120 flights will be operated from Delhi,” said Samyukth Sridharan, COO of SpiceJet.
This apart, both airlines this time have a spare aircraft at the Delhi airport, which would be deployed in case of unnecessary flight delays or cancellations.
Jet Airways, the Mumbai-based full-service carrier, is also planning to keep two spare aircraft at Mumbai and another airport, which can be brought to use in case of delays.
| INDIAN PILOTS TRAINED IN CAT III | |||
| Airline | Number of pilots | CAT III Commander | Co-pilot |
| Air India | 600 | 95 | 69 |
| Indian Airlines | 670 | 148 | 94 |
| Jet Airways | 700 | 102 | 58 |
| JetLite | 200 | Nil | Nil |
| SpiceJet | Not available | Nil | Nil |
| IndiGo | 160 | 33 | 26 |
| Kingfisher | 400 | 93 | 53 |
| Go Air | 72 | 4 | 6 |
“We also have arrangements with alternate airports where the flights can be diverted in case of delays. For example, if flights are diverted from Delhi, they can land in Jaipur. Mumbai flights can be diverted to airports like Ahmedabad,” said a Jet Airways executive.
He, however, added that even after the modernisation, none of the non-metro airports were fully equipped to handle many diverted flights.
Also, while SpiceJet continues to have no CAT-III trained pilots, IndiGo has close to 40 per cent of its pilots trained for CAT-III conditions this year as compared to a mere 20 per cent last year.
“We have also rostered our pilots in such a way this year that we can operate maximum number of flights even in low visibility conditions,” said Aditya Ghosh, president, IndiGo.
Jet Airways has considerably geared up since last year to add to its CAT-III trained crew.
“We have a total of 330 Indian commanders, around 35 per cent of whom are CAT-III trained this year, compared to last year when we had just three,” said a senior pilot with Jet Airways.
Last year, only two out of every 10 domestic CAT-III landings were done by private carriers and the rest by Air India, which continues to have the best-trained crew in terms of CAT-III flying.
