How and why your flight has been leaving on time

A blow-by-blow account of what it takes to get you on to the plane, and the aircraft on the runway, in 45 minutes flat

Aneesh Phadnis

     

Posted On Saturday, August 07, 2010 at 02:10:16 AM

Two weeks ago, only 74% of the morning flights from the Mumbai airport were taking off on time. This week, that number was up to 91%. How have they turned it around? The simple answer is: by sticking to deadlines, but in this case, things are sligtly more complicated.  Those of you who have taken flights over the last couple of weeks will be aware of the flood of SMSes asking passengers to reach the airport at least an hour-and-a-half, and in some cases two hours, before scheduled departure.  However, for a flight to take off on time, a lot more has to fall in place with jigsaw-cum-Swiss-watch-like precision (see graphic).  While the deadlines mentioned in the graphic have always been in place, the new guidelines have put pressure on everyone involved — from those manning the check-in counters to the man loading your luggage on the flight — to ensure flights go off on time. A few people have been caught by surprise. Madhukar Parikh takes flights out of Mumbai once a week. Having lived his recent life in the world of last-minute travel plans and online check-ins, reaching the airport 15-20 minutes before his scheduled departure wasn't new to him.  This week though, Parikh was caught by surprise when Kingfisher Airlines refused to let him board his Bangalore-Mumbai flight despite the fact that he had already checked-in online, and was asked to wait an extra couple of hours to catch the next flight out. Parikh was just one of the hundreds of passengers caught out by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's decision to crack the whip and ensure on-time departures. "Previously airlines would accommodate me even if I reported 15-20 minutes before departure. This time, though the airline staff had kept my boarding pass ready, I was not allowed to board. I wasn't upset though. I think its good thing that flights are taking off and landing on time,'' Parikh said.   All over india now?   JOINT secretary, Civil Aviation Ministry, Alok Sinha on Friday told Mumbai Mirror that following the successful implementation of the new guidelines in Mumbai, the government was planning to introduce these measures at airports across India by the end of this month. “On-time performance, which was earlier 53% has now gone up to 77% in Mumbai,” he said. “This is a significant improvement.  On Friday, airport and airline officials met Sinha for a review of the measures put in place, and requested for a relaxation in guidelines that would allow them to as for push back clearance 10 minutes before departure. Sinha said they would consider relaxing the norm, only for aircrafts parked close to the international terminal.  Airlines officials are largely unhappy, saying it is practically impossible to stick to this timeline due to constraints such as limited number of parking bays and aerobridges. “We also have no control how much time security checks take,” an official said.   1- Luggage    Checked in baggage goes through a one- to four-stage screening process depending on whether there are any red flags. Completed: Not later than 6.30 From the luggage loading area, it’s taken to the flight. If flight has aerobridge access, loading takes around five minutes. If luggage has to be carted to the aircraft on trolleys, it could take eight to 10 minutes. Completed: Not later than 6.40am  2 - Boarding gate  Now: Not later than 6.40am; Previously: Flights often be delayed waiting for late check-ins passengers  3 - security check  Now: Not later than 6.28am; Previously: Late check-ins were rushed through security even 10 mins before scheduled take-off  4 - Check-in counter  Now: Not later than 6.20am; Previously: Frequent fliers and VIPs were allowed to check in as little as 15 minutes before a flight.  5 - Entry  Airlines calculate the average waiting time in the check-in queue to be 10-15 minutes. During peak hours, it could   take longer, which is why they ask you to reach an hour-and-a-half early.  New guidelines  According to the new guidelines, a pilot has to put in a push back clearance request 15 minutes before departure (earlier, pilots could do this even five minutes before departure). If they don't, Air Traffic Control automatically pushes their flight back to the next available slot, which could be up to two hours later (earlier, one flight not leaving on time used to result in a domino-type effect on every other flight that followed). ON-TIME DEPARTURE STATS (5-9.30am) July 19-24: 74 % flights on time july 26-31: 84 % flights on time AUGUST 1-6: 91 % flights on time   What changes frequent fliers have noticed