IGI will offer 1,314 slots to airlines during winter schedule

The Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport will offer 1,314 slots to airlines during its winter schedule, which comes into effect from October 29, the Delhi airport's chief executive officer (CEO) said.

The number of slots has gone up compared to the 1,244 offered in the summer schedule.

A slot is defined as the scheduled time of arrival or departure available at an airport.

"In summer we gave 1,244 slots. This winter I have given 1,314 slots. We have appointed the NATS to understand runway capacity and operate the slots. So far, we were running flat 67 flights every hour. This winter we will introduce profile scheduling," CEO, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), I Prabhakara Rao told reporters today.
 

The method will cater to peaks and troughs in traffic, and as a result, there will be 73 to 74 flights in certain hours and other timings would have 64 to 70 flights.

"This will give recovery period (in case of flight delays). This is the logical way to deal with high intensity operations," he said.

The winter schedule starts from the last Sunday of October and is in force till the last week of March this year, thereafter, the summer schedule comes into effect.

The total slots at the IGI will also include the four slots DIAL has agreed to offer to the government in the second phase of the regional connectivity scheme (RCS), bidding for which is underway.

The airport operator had offered eight slots during the first phase of RCS.

NATS is the UK's leading provider of air traffic control services and is working with DIAL to help it maximise aircraft handling capacity at the IGI.

According to sources, NATS has acknowledged that the airport is running at peak saturation capacity.

It has also recommended ways to help the IGI accommodate 74 additional slots per day by managing the early morning and post 11 pm non-peak hours, when there is capacity available.

This is, however, subject to certain pre-requisites such as ensuring that airlines adhere to their departure and arrival time and controlling movement of non-schedule aircraft such as military, business and VIP planes.