Saurabh Sinha/TNN

New Delhi, Dec 4: Indian carriers have come under the government's scanner for not operating flights as per schedule under the garb of clubbing flights together, yet not vacating the unutilised slots so that other airlines could use it.

The aviation ministry is now likely to ask airlines to come clean on their fleet sizes and the number of flights that can be operated on this reduced number so that some precious slots can be freed up in choked airports like Mumbai.

Big airlines like Jet, Kingfisher and Air India have flights every hour between big metros like Delhi and Mumbai in morning and evening. "We have been observing that they may not operate, for instance, their 8 am flight and club it someday with their 6 am and on other days with 10 am flights. This way their 8 am slot is technically not unutilised without being actually used. So we can't give it to others who want to operate out of these airports at those times," said a senior official.

The ministry doesn't want airlines to have slots yet not utilise them. The big three airlines have got prime slots because of which new players, especially the LCCs, are unable to get the same slots. Moreover, unutilising a prime slot also means big revenue loss for airport operators who are already under sever stress due to fall in number of passengers and aircraft movement.

Unless tackled seriously, the problem could get worse in coming days as the already low air traffic has taken a severe beating after the Mumbai terror attack. Inbound travellers are cancelling tickets to India, which will affect Indian carriers' both domestic and international traffic. To counter the problem of low load factors, airlines could further reduce flights from next month. Moreover as Jet and Kingfisher's alliance takes a firm shape, these airlines could club flights.

The big three full service Indian carriers have been delaying deliveries of new aircraft and reducing fleets by sending back leased aircraft and leasing out owned planes. Jet Airways, for instance has sought clearance to wet lease three Boeing 777 to Turkish Airlines and two A-330s for Gulf Air. "Airlines that are now returning their planes will be asked what slots were being utilised by those aircraft. The vacated slots will be given to other players," the official said.

This action comes close on the heels of the DGCA issuing a notice to an airline for cancelling flights without informing it. The logic: Had the ministry been informed, the unutilised slots could have been given to some other airline.