KOCHI: Keeping an aircraft as standby at the Kochi and Kozhikode airports has enabled Air India Express (AIE) to effect a perceptible reduction in the rate of disruption of its flight services from the State. Earlier, if a flight was grounded at an airport owing to a technical snag, the only option was to delay, or in some instances even cancel, the service depending on the time taken by its engineers to rectify the error.

This, according to airline sources, has become a thing of the past. Now when there is an instance of grounding of an aircraft at any of the three international airports of the State, and the anticipated time for sorting out the snag is more than what the airline can afford, it presses into service one of the two standby aircraft. As and when the snag-hit aircraft turns operational, it fills the slot of the standby aircraft thus ensuring that the facility is available for the most part.

No major delays

Airline sources said the system has helped avert major disruption of AIE's scheduled services out of the State. We have registered zero cancellations and have had no major delays on account of grounding of aircraft during the last two-month period, Aby George, Public Relations Executive of Air India at Kochi airport, said. Cancellations and major delays, if any, during this period could be attributed to inclement weather and similar other factors beyond the control of the airline.

Moreover, the system has ensured increased passenger load for AIE services, he said. According to him, passengers nowadays are as particular about time as they are about the cost factor. "Our high percentage of `on time performance' is attracting more passengers, which gets reflected in the increased occupancy rates on our flights," he said.

Maintenance unit

The airline has a Boeing 737-800 on standby at the Cochin International Airport for the last two months. Besides, the airline also maintains a full `line maintenance unit' comprising aircraft engineers (AEs) and technicians at Kochi. The unit is capable of handling routine problems and assistance is sought from the headquarters only when the problem at hand is of a serious nature. However, as the AIE aircraft are relatively new, chances of incurring complicated technical errors are remote, it is pointed out. The aircraft on standby would be kept ready to get airborne on short notice.

According to the aviation regulations, an aircraft should not be operated before ensuring the safety aspects and operational fitness for which there is an aircraft logbook containing a specific set of checklists. The commander of the aircraft would make a final decision on operating the flight based on these checks.

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