Mumbai International and Delhi International airport operators are considering banning turboprops in order to free slots for higher-capacity jet aircraft, the Financial Chronical has reported.
According to the initial plan, which received support from the Civil Aviation Ministry, turboprop flights to and from Delhi would be relocated to Ghaziabad, a military airport undergoing conversion into a civil facility. Hindon is located some 30 kilometres away from Delhi Int'l.
The capital airport estimates that by banning turboprop operations, it would be able to add an extra 38 slots per day, mostly thanks to faster approach speed of jet aircraft.
No alternative airport for Mumbai has been put forward so far.
IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi International) and Jet Airways (JAI, Mumbai International), the two largest operators of turboprops at the two airports, oppose the ban. An unnamed airline executive said that a ban on new services could be contemplated, but the existing turboprop flights should not be relocated.
Both carriers use turboprops on thinner routes feeding their hubs and as such would see little sense in relocating these flights to other airports.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Delhi currently sees 254 weekly departures operated with turboprops by Jet Airways, Indigo, SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International), Alliance Air (India) (9I, Delhi International), and PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International). In turn, Mumbai sees just 54 weekly turboprop departures operated by SpiceJet, Alliance Air, and TruJet (TRJ, Hyderabad International).
