Ahmedabad: Thoothukudi airport has been positioned second by a global month to month magazine surveying the On-Time Performance of air terminals around the world.
For the month of September, the OAG magazine had declared rank 1 for Nakashibetsu airport of Japan for its 100 per cent operation of 94 flights without any cancellations. Thoothukudi airport, which operated 99 flights, was ranked 2.
However, the Thoothukudi airport had managed to achieve rank 1 in asia pacific regional ranks, in which Nakashibetsu airport slipped to second rank.
It may be noted that Thoothukudi airport held the first rank in both the categories of global and Asia pacific region in August, 2021.
Thoothukudi Airport Authority of India (AAI) Director N Subramanian told that 99 flights were operated in the month of September as per the time schedules, without any cancellation and delay.
Attributing the outstanding performance to the “consistent team work”, Subramanian said that the Air Traffic Control department, Communication & navigational services department, terminal management, electrical department and the police are in tune with one another to ensure a safe and quick service to the passengers. The airport serves the passengers with a workforce of 43 AAI staff, 50 Indigo airlines staff and 27 police personnel, he said.
The airport in the coastal city of Thoothukudi, a busy industrial hub, operates three flights to Chennai every day, and three flights to Bengaluru per week. At least 500 passengers cross the airport every day.
Meanwhile, other Indian airports found in top 100 global airports in September issue includes – Vadodara airport ranked 21 with 95.7 percent operations, Coimbatore airport ranked 32 with 95 percent operations, Nagpur ranked 35 with 94.8 percent operations, Indore ranked 76 rank with 93.2 percent and Udaipur airport ranked 81 with 92. 8 percent.
Similarly, in the ASPAC (Asia Pacific) airport performance in which Thoothukudi airport ranked 1 with 100 percent operations, followed by Nakashibetsu airport of Japan ranked 2 and Port Moresby of Papua New Guinea ranked 3 with 99.8 percent.
As per the ASPAC ranking, Indian airports – Vadodara ranked 14, Coimbatore ranked 20, Nagpur ranked 22, Aurangabad ranked 31, Indore ranked 34, Udaipur ranked 36, Thiruvananthapuram 37, Kannur 39 and Rajamundry 47, in the top 50 airports.
It shall be noted that Chennai which ranked 112 in global performance, ranked 52 in Asia Pacific regional score.
The global airport performance OAG Airport monthly, which assesses airports and airlines across Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, Asia Pacific and North America, evaluates the On-Time Performance based on the departure or arrival within 15 minutes of the schedule. The status coverage is based on actual gate times, rather than estimated times.