AIRPORT ON TIME PERFORMANCE IN INDIA

Best performing airports - May 2026

Top 5 major airports by OTP:

Chennai International Airport: 92.2% - highest in India

Kolkata - Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: 84.7%

Hyderabad - Rajiv Gandhi International: 84.4%

Bengaluru - Kempegowda International: 82.3%

Kochi International: 81.5% 

Airports with lowest OTP - May 2026

Delhi - Indira Gandhi International: 72.6%

Mumbai - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj: 70.5% - lowest among 10 major airports 80e0

Mumbai’s low score is partly due to single-runway ops, slot congestion, and only 46 aircraft movements/hour peak capacity. The govt reduced movements to 44/hr during HIRO and 42/hr otherwise to ease delays. 

Best performing airlines - May 2026

Across 10 major airports:

IndiGo: 82.8%

Akasa Air: 78.3%

Air India Group: 74.5%

Alliance Air: 70.5%

SpiceJet: 26.5% - lowest, with 15.75% flights delayed >2 hours e8358982

Daily data for July 7, 2026 showed Akasa at 94.94%, Air India at 90.84%, IndiGo at 88.80%. 

Other notes

Global ranking: In Feb 2026 Cirium report, Chennai was 10th most punctual large airport with 85.23% on-time departure, and Bengaluru was 11th with 84.86%. KIA was also named “world’s most punctual airport” for 3 consecutive months in 2025 with 87-89% OTP.

Traffic: May 2026 was record-breaking with 1.53 crore domestic passengers, up 11% MoM.

How OTP is measured: Flight arriving/departing within 15 minutes of scheduled time. 

Why Delhi/Mumbai lag

ATC study found 5.5% of flights left early and 25% reached Delhi/Mumbai/Bengaluru >15 min early, causing slot congestion and cascading delays. Infrastructure limits + airline scramble for better OTP make it worse.