At a time IndiGo and SpiceJet are locked in a spat over the methodology adopted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for computing on-time performance (OTP) of airlines, data for December once again show SpiceJet topping the chart on this parameter, registering a 70% OTP in the top four airports — Mumbai , Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, reports Malyaban Ghosh in New Delhi. It was closely followed by Jet Airways (64.3%), Vistara (64.2%) and GoAir (63.6%). According to the data, IndiGo, the largest airline by market share, and Air India had the lowest OTP at 61.6% and 59%, respectively, during the month.
For the past several months, SpiceJet has topped the monthly OTP rankings of the regulator DGCA, which calculates the same by taking the average of on-time performance of the airlines at the four airports. This has irked IndiGo, which last month had written to the DGCA expressing its reservations over the methodology and urged for a review, following which the DGCA set up a committee for this.
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This led to protests by SpiceJet. Its chief Ajay Singh reportedly met the DGCA chief earlier this month and expressed serious concern about the regulator setting up a committee to look into the OTP mechanism following a complaint by an airline. IndiGo usually showcases its OTP as its core strength but got relegated to the third spot in October and fourth in November. During December, SpiceJet also maintained its performance by registering 93% passenger load factor (PLF). It was closely followed by IndiGo with 91.4% and GoAir with 90.7%.
With regard to market share and passengers carried, IndiGo continued to lead by maintaining 40.3% market share and carrying 38.48 lakh passengers during the month. Full service airlines Jet Airways and Air India came second and third with 15.3% and 14% market share, respectively. Vistara and AirAsia registered 3.2% and 2.9% market share, carrying 3.04 lakh and 2.77 lakh passengers, respectively, in December.
