IndiGo Records Worst-Ever Punctuality: On-Time Performance Falls to 8.5%

Nationwide cancellations and disruptions are chipping away at India's largest airline as its on-time performance (OTP) hit a record low of 8.5%, according to data released by the Civil Aviation Ministry.

The OTP is a key metric which measures a flight's punctuality against its schedule. If a flight arrives or departs within 15 minutes of its scheduled time, it is typically considered on time.

IndiGo which generally operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily, is now cancelling flights as part of efforts to tackle disruptions, primarily triggered by crew shortages.

The airline, which presents its punctuality as a hallmark, recorded an on-time performance of 19.7% on Wednesday, a steep fall from 35% reported on Tuesday.

By Thursday, OTPs of rival airlines like Air India and Air India Express were at 61% and 58.6%, respectively, while that of Akasa Air stood at 63%.

The readings for SpiceJet and state-owned Alliance Air were at 56.4% and 56%, respectively. SpiceJet has also added extra flights from the Delhi airport on Friday.

The OTP is calculated based on the performance of airlines at six major airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

IndiGo cancelled all its flights from Delhi airport till Friday Midnight, additionally 31 domestic flights from Goa's Dabolim airport till noon.

IndiGo flights to Mumbai and Delhi were also cancelled at Bengaluru Airport and 84 departures and 71 arrivals were cancelled from the Hyderabad airport.

Further, all IndiGo domestic flights operating from Terminal 1 were cancelled until 11:59 p.m. on Friday at Chennai International Airport.

In light of these disruptions, the Civil Aviation Ministry set up a control room to monitor the situation. Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu visited the control room and reviewed its functioning. Special focus was given to ensuring seamless communication among all stakeholders and providing timely information to passengers.

(With PTI inputs.)