Air traveller only spends around 24.68% of the total travel time, in a one-stopover flight, actually flying

Have you ever had to wait endlessly at an airport for a connecting flight? You may not be alone in suffering the predicament in India. A study by the School of Planning and Architecture shows that an Indian air traveller on an average only spends around 24.68% of the total travel time, in a one-stopover flight, flying. The rest of the time is spent waiting at the airports.

The research, carried out by Amal Jose, a postgraduate student of the institute, under guidance of Sewa Ram, Senior Professor of Transport Planning, is a comprehensive study of over 60 airports in India. It has analysed major and minor airports of various countries on parameters such as air, network and land accessibility.

The study shows that in India if a passenger takes a flight with one stopover, on an average she spends 75.32% of the total travel time only waiting at airports. This waiting time increases when the passenger has two or more stopovers, where the average waiting time becomes 83.55% and the flight time is the remaining 16.45%.

This means, for example if a person is flying from New Delhi to Bagdogra in Darjeeling, in a direct flight, she takes around two hours.

However, if she stops over at either Guwahati or Kolkata, the total travel time more than doubles mainly because of the waiting time at the airports.

This, the study states, when compared to its international counterparts is an inconvenient state.