The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has threatened to cancel slots for flights which are repeatedly missing their scheduled time. At the three-day meeting, which is currently going on in Delhi, Alok Sinha, Joint Secretary, MoCA met senior officials from major airports across the country to formulate and implement this rule. The officials will also discuss the winter schedule for flights, which needs to be drastically re-planned so as to ensure better results out of stick-to-slot policy for departing as well as arriving flights.

According to a report, Sinha said, “We will be discussing ways to ensure that most flights are on time. Also, if a particular flight is repeatedly missing its slot, it may be asked to give up that slot. We are planning to implement this rule after a thorough discussion with Mumbai and Delhi airport officials.”

Officials said that apart from the new measure for errant flights, the meeting will also focus on planning the winter schedule, which need to fall in line with the Air Transport Circular, 10 of 2009. This would also improve on-time performance percentage for flights out of big airports like Mumbai and Delhi.

A senior airport official said that currently, during peak hours, many flights are scheduled to take-off or arrive at the same time. This is not practically possible. Also, the circular clearly states that there should be only five flights in a span of 10 minutes. This clause in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) circular is flouted by the DGCA itself as at times there are 10 flights scheduled in a span of 10 minutes.