Air India says FlightStats report ranking it third worst airline ‘fabricated’

National passenger carrier Air India on Monday said that it disagrees with a report published by data services company FlightStats which has ranked the airline as the third worst global performer in terms of on-time operations in 2016.

“We totally disagree with the report published by FlightStats about AI,” Air India’s spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar was quoted as saying in a statement.

“Initially it seems that the report is fabricated, so AI management will investigate the report till the end.”

The development comes after an international media report cited that the data services company has ranked Air India as the third worst performer airline in terms of its on-time performance (OTP) in 2016.

“As a leader in flight data services FlightStats, part of FlightGlobal, is in a unique position to be able to provide an in-depth view into how airlines are performing globally,” the data services company’s website said.

“For the past eight years we have been recognizing airlines with our On-time Performance Services (OPS) Awards acknowledging the ‘Best of the Best’.”

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According to the website, the FlightStats OPS Awards recognises airlines around the world that deliver the highest percentage of flights to their arrival gates within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time.

In contrast, low-cost carrier IndiGo reported that it has been recognised as one of the leading “On-Time Performers” in the Asia-Pacific region by FlightStats in its 8th Annual Airline On-Time Performance Service Awards, January 2017.

IndiGo has been recognised among major carriers including Japan Airlines, Virgin Australia, Qantas, Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Jetstar and Jet Airways (India).

“We are happy to be recognised amongst the leading Asia-Pacific carriers,” Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo, was quoted as saying in a statement.

“We are striving hard towards gaining number one position on any Indian carrier on world stage for its on-time performance.”

IndiGo said the airline has been able to maintain its impressive OTP over a long period of time due to its unmatchable operational efficiency.

“The entire fleet of 125 aircraft is equipped with technology called Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS),” IndiGo’s statement said.

“Before departure of every IndiGo flight, an automatic message is triggerd from the aircraft via ACARS to our operations control centre (OCC) - and immediately the same departure time gets recorded in the software.”

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