BENGALURU: November hasn’t been a smooth ride either for domestic airlines across the country or its fliers. While air traffic has dipped by 2 lakh compared with the previous month, the number of passengers who have been denied boarding or were affected due to flight delays and cancellations has shot up hugely.
The domestic air traffic report for November, released by the Director General of Civil Aviation on Sunday, reveals that domestic traffic for November stood at 1.16 crore, while it was 1.18 crore in October. Of these, private carriers accounted for 1.02 crore while Air India carried 14.18 lakh fliers.
The report specifies that 2,616 passengers were denied boarding by various airlines, with Jet Airways (Plus JetLite) topping it with 1,218 passengers and Air India following it with 963 passengers. In comparison,1,846 passengers were not allowed on flights last month. Airlines have totally spent Rs 1.52 crore as compensation for these passengers. Again, more than double the number of passengers were affected last month due to flight cancellations. A total of 26,148 passengers suffered in November due to flight cancellations, while 12,556 passengers were affected in October. Delays by flights affected 1,15,741 passengers last month, as compared to 90,397 passengers in October, the report states.
Passenger related complaints received in November stood at 786. Air India topped the list of complaints with 1.7 complaints for every 10,000 of its fliers, while Jet Airways had 1.4. Among the leading airlines, Spicejet scored best with a 0.1. Flight related problems across all airlines was the main grouse of passengers, with 31.8% lodging complaints, while customer service related complaints stood at 31%.
The report states that overall growth in traffic continued, with 12.62 crore passengers from January to November 2018, as against 10.59 crore during the corresponding period in 2017.
Jet Airways X’mas sale begins
To mark the festive season, Jet Airways is offering up to 30% discount on its domestic and international fares. The sale begins on December 24, 2018, and will be on till January 1, 2019. According to an official release, many exclusive benefits are in store for guests booking through the airline’s website (www.jetairways.com) or its mobile app. They stand to earn 250 Bonus JPMiles on every flight booking, and zero cancellation fee for changes or cancellations made within 24 hours of booking. They can also lock a preferred fare with a nominal fee for up to 72 hours to safeguard against fluctuation of fares. The sale is valid for both one-way and return journeys for both Premiere and Economy class with a travel validity effective till January 7, 2019, for international travel.