Mumbai-Delhi adjudged the world's third busiest air route but one of the least punctual

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Mumbai to Delhi air route is the third busiest one in the world with 47,462 departures in 2017, according to UK-based aviation data monitor OAG. That means, every 11 minutes, a flight takes-off along this route.

Bengaluru to Delhi air route also features in the list of the busiest air routes in the world at 12^th position with 29,427 flights being operated last year.

The busiest route in the world is Jeju to Seoul Gimpo in South Korea with 64,991 departures in 2017. Jeju is the largest island off the Korean peninsula and it is sometimes labelled "the Hawaii of South Korea" thanks to dramatic volcanic landscapes, hiking trails and stunning beaches. The number of departures indicates that despite Jeju being UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, most of the tourists are domestic.

The top ten busiest air routes in the world are all domestic. The first international route which features in the list is Hong Kong to Taipei at 11^th place with 29,494 take-offs last year.

Punctuality

IndiGo which excelled at on-time-performance (OTP) in India was the fourth most punctual airline in the world among major airlines. 81.22 percent of its flight landed under 15 minutes of the scheduled time, according to the OAG’s report. The list was topped by airBaltic which landed over 90 percent of its flights on time.

However, among all airlines—low-cost, small and major—IndiGo did not find a place in top 20. In the Asia-Pacific region though, it was placed ninth in terms of OTP.

Also Read: Aditya Ghosh—the seasoned pilot runs into turbulent weather

Incidentally, the flights operating on the Mumbai-Delhi air route were among the least punctual among top 20 busiest routes with just 59 percent of the flight landing on time. Apart from possible negligence in part of airlines, this can be attributed to the fact that only one runway can be used at one time in Mumbai leading to frequent delays.

Among the large airports (with 10-20 million departing seats) in the world, Chennai was the 11^th most punctual with about 82 percent of the flights operating on time. Hyderabad with 80.5 percent OTP in 2017 was placed 17 among the top 20 large airports by punctuality.

Delhi’s IGI Airport was the only airport featuring in top 20 mega airports (with 30+ million departing seats) by OTP with 70 percent of the flights operating on time. However, this was far behind the Tokyo Haneda airport which operated 87 percent flights with little or no delay.