Flight cancellations in August: Scheduled domestic airlines in India reported an overall cancellation rate of 0.65 per cent for the month of August 2023, affecting passengers across the country. Technical issues emerged as the most significant reason for the cancellation rates, accounting for 50.1 per cent of such disruptions. The data, released by DGCA, outlined the cancellation rate of various Indian airlines, but Tata Group-run AirAsia, Vistara, and Air India were the least-affected carriers by these reasons.
Diverse reasons for flight cancellations
In addition to technical glitches, weather conditions posed another major challenge, contributing to 23.3 per cent of cancellations. Unpredictable monsoon rains and adverse weather patterns disrupted flight operations in various regions of the country.
Operational issues, which accounted for 10.3 per cent of cancellations, included challenges related to crew scheduling, airport logistics, and ground operations. Commercial factors, such as ticket overselling or revenue management, played a minor role, contributing to 0.2 per cent of cancellations. Meanwhile, miscellaneous reasons, which included issues not classified under the primary categories, accounted for 16.2 per cent of disruptions.
India’s Domestic Air Travel Surges 22.81% In August | Image credit: Pixabay
Positive performance by Tata’s Air India, Vistara
AirAsia, Vistara, and Air India, all of which come under the Tata Sons, were the best performing airlines, with cancellation rates of 0.03 per cent, 0.1 per cent and 0.28 per cent, respectively. The group is currently working on merging its full-service carriers Air India and Vistara.
Meanwhile, budget airline IndiGo saw 0.59 per cent cancellations, while SpiceJet flights saw 0.55 per cent cancellation rate.
Indiaone Air leads in flight cancellations rates
Regional airline Indiaone Air reported the highest cancellation rate, standing at 34.19 per cent. Alliance Air and Akasa Air followed with cancellation rates of 2.21 per cent and 1.17 per cent, respectively.
Passenger complaints
A total of 288 passenger complaints were lodged during August 2023 across all domestic airlines. This equates to approximately 0.23 complaints per 10,000 passengers carried during the month.
India’s Domestic Air Travel Surges 22.81% In August | Image credit: Pixabay
Airline-wise complaints
- Indiaone Air received the least complaints, with a rate of 0.0 per 10,000 passengers. The airline, notably, carried around 1,000 passengers during the month.
- Indigo, Vistara, and AirAsia had relatively low complaint rate at 0.1 complaints per 10,000 passengers.
- Air India, and Akasa Air had complaint rates of 0.5 and 0.6 per 10,000 passengers, respectively.
- Star Air, Fly Big, SpiceJet and Alliance Air faced the most complaints, with rates of 1.3, 1.3, 1.3, and 3.1, respectively.
Common passenger grievances
The majority of passenger complaints in August 2023 centred around flight-related issues, comprising 41.3 per cent of all grievances. Following closely behind were concerns related to baggage, accounting for 18.4 per cent of the complaints, and refund disputes, which contributed 16 per cent. Additionally, some passengers expressed dissatisfaction with staff behaviour (2.4 per cent), disability-related matters (1 per cent), catering services (0.3 per cent), and a range of miscellaneous issues (14.2 per cent).
However, according to DGCA’s air traffic data for August 2023, airlines successfully addressed approximately 98 per cent of the 288 complaints received in August 2023.
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