Kingfisher tops in unused flight slots, says Ravi

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Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines has topped the charts for the highest number of cancellations as it was operating only 243 flights out of a scheduled 418 departures per day, parliament was told on Wednesday.

Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply Wednesday that domestic airlines were operating only 1,643 of the approved 1,910 departures a day.

"All the slots for non-operational flights have been cancelled," he added.

The others in the list include Spicejet, which operates 250 flights of its allotted slots of 283 departures per day, followed by IndiGo at 259 flights of an approved schedule of 291 slots.

Amongst the other carriers are JetLite, which is not operating 11 flights, followed by Jet Airways at nine departures and national carrier Air India at seven flights.

Alliance Air and Go Air, on the other hand, have utilised all their flight operation slots.

Ravi said the issue was being monitored by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which has also issued directives for proper compensation and facilities for those passengers whose flights have been delayed or cancelled.

"All the airlines are required to provide compensation and facilities to the affected passengers in accordance with applicable provisions of the civil aviation requirements (CAR)," the minister said.

As reported by IANS earlier, the DGCA had found 267 slots unused by various airlines in the ongoing winter schedule.

"We have found that in total, there are 267 slots unused by airlines out of the total of 1,910 slots allotted in the winter schedule," a senior official at the DGCA told IANS.

According to the official, the regulator has asked the airports to submit proposals on how to utilise the vacant slots.

"We have asked them (airports) to submit a report on how to utilise the vacant slots," the official said.

Asked if the slots may be transferred from defaulting airlines to other carriers, the official said this would be decided after the airports submit their report. "The decision would be taken shortly."

The developments had come as airline major Kingfisher began curbing its daily flights for more than a week and other airlines like Indigo and Spice Jet also cancelled a huge number of flights from the permitted daily operation level by the DGCA.