Indian budget airline SpiceJet set to open a new route from Mumbai to Hong Kong – but will it just mean more delays for passengers?

Indian budget airline SpiceJet is set to open a new route from Mumbai to Hong Kong, raising questions about whether aviation rules sufficiently protect passengers from unnecessary delays as the carrier’s flights are consistently late. The low-cost carrier already flies to the city, having launched a service between New Delhi and Hong Kong in November last year. But according to data from tracking service FlightRadar24, SpiceJet flights from Hong Kong arrive in the Indian capital one hour and 23 minutes late on average. Of the 146 flights up until April 19, just two arrived on time, on January 8 and February 18. In total, the service has accrued 12,193 minutes of delays if the airline’s scheduled arrival and actual landing times are compared. Poonam Nanda, director of agency Nanda Travel, one of the largest sellers of flights between India and Hong Kong, said customers were not impressed with SpiceJet. “We have passengers who were so frustrated they threw away the return portion of their ticket and bought new tickets to fly back to Hong Kong on another airline,” Nanda said. An airline spokesman said its flights were mostly on time “barring a few instances”. The industry classes a flight as late 15 minutes after its scheduled arrival time. According to SpiceJet’s data, it achieved 88 per cent and 87 per cent on-time performance (OTP) in November and December last year, respectively. For January and February this year, it was about 84 per cent and 81 per cent. While declining to explain how its OTPs were derived, the spokesman attributed the global grounding of Boeing 737 MAX flights on March 13 to most of the delays. “The delays in most cases have been due to reasons which are beyond our control and something which all airlines are prone to,” he said. SpiceJet flew the MAX, which accounts for a quarter of its fleet, on the Hong Kong route. Some 13 jets were grounded indefinitely. It said it would add 16 older versions of the 737, from collapsed carrier Jet Airways, to replace the MAX planes and operate more international flights, including the Mumbai-Hong Kong route to be launched later this year. ‘No salary, no money’: Jet Airways staff demand PM rescues grounded airline The airline did not explain the reasons for delays before March 13. According to the Hong Kong Schedule Coordination Office under the Civil Aviation Department (CAD), which manages runway slots usage, airlines that intentionally and regularly operate services at a significantly different time than that allocated will lose their time slot, as per global guidelines. In Singapore, Changi Airport has tougher penalties for offending airlines. They face fines of up to US$100,000 (HK$578,810) or loss of landing slots. At busy international airports such as Hong Kong, with parking space for jets at a premium, a plane occupying a parking stand for longer than allocated can have a knock-on effect on other airlines – and passengers as a result. “I don’t think the [SpiceJet] on-time performance is acceptable with that record,” said lawmaker Jeremy Tam Man-ho, a professional pilot. “If they cannot make the departure time, or OTP, they should face some penalty, maybe not on new routes but on the existing one, or be served a warning notice that they could lose their runway slot if they cannot improve.” Shenzhen airport expansion plan sets up battle for the skies with Hong Kong Ajay Awtaney, editor of Indian travel website Live from a Lounge, said Indian budget carriers typically operated flights with minimal downtime to “get more revenue out of the same aircraft”. The lack of downtime and tight turnarounds contributed to knock-on delays, he said. The CAD said it had contacted SpiceJet and “understood their recent delays were primarily related to aircraft rotation issues” stemming from the MAX grounding. It described its timekeeping as comparable with other airlines. The Airport Authority Hong Kong, which operates Hong Kong International Airport, did not address the specific issues surrounding SpiceJet’s timekeeping. But it said it was working closely with the aviation regulator, airlines, and other parties to “maintain a satisfactory on-time performance”. “For low performing airlines, the authority would liaise with these airlines to examine reasons for delays and urge them to seek measures to improve their performance,” an airport authority spokeswoman said, without answering if it classed the Indian carrier as one of these airlines.