Kingfisher Airlines has been ranked as the most efficient in terms of sticking to flight schedules in February, beating rivals like Air India and Jet Airways, according to a data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Departure or arrival, running behind schedule by 10 minutes by any airline is not considered a poor OTP, but if the departure or arrival is late by over 15 minutes, it is considered a delay.

While, Kingfisher scored 86.5% in terms of on-time performance (OTP), Chennai-based Paramount Airways has scored 86.2% in the month under preview. Kingfisher?s rival public sector airline Air India scored 76.2% and Jet Airways is at 74.9%. In the low cost space, Indigo has topped the chart by scoring 86.2%, followed by SpiceJet at 77.9% and GoAir at 75.3%. Altogether airlines averaged a 79.4% OTP rate in February.

Kingfisher attributed the success to its team?s discipline with a singular focus on maintaining OTP for the airline. Other airlines are also focusing on improving their OTPs consistently so that they can better utilise their aircraft. Until recently, Indian carriers on an average had an aircraft utilisation of 8 hours each day, but each one is trying to enhance it to atleast 10 hours, while the benchmark is 14 hours, say analysts.

The cancellation of domestic departures in February stood at 1.5%. The cancellation rate of Paramount was highest at 6.2% followed by JetLite at 3.2% and Jet stood at 2.8%. Kingfisher had a 0.6% flight cancellation rate. These airlines had cancellation due to weather, technical or commercial reasons. In January 2010, Paramount scored 87.3% in terms of punctuality of its flights, followed by Kingfisher Airlines at 82.5%. Jet notched up 69.6% and Air India at 63.8%. In the low cost space Indigo topped the chart at 71.8%, GoAir at 71.5%, SpiceJet at 65.7%.

Kingfisher to double aircraft fleet by 2016

Kingfisher Airlines has plans to more than double its fleet strength by adding 67 more aircraft by 2016, according to the company?s website.Currently, the Vijay Mallya-run-carrier has 66 aircraft in its fleet. The 67 aircraft, scheduled to be delivered to the airline over the next six years include 42 Airbus 320, 15 Airbus 330 and 10 Airbus 350 and 380 planes.