Does anyone have an explanation of why all flights into and out of BOM all occur in the middle of the night?

I find this incredibly inconvenient. Someone told me that the Indian government restricts airport takeoffs and landings only between 11 PM and 3 AM???

...?? Does anyone know the reason behind this?

Probably something historical to do with connecting pax between Europe and further east in Asia and v-v. Also what times a/c can leave India, go to a distant destination, and come back.

I know that it often seems that way, DEL included, but there are a number of flights that operate at other hours. For example, CX has a RT between BOM and BKK that departs BOM at 4:45am, and returns at 7:35pm. TG flights also arrive in DEL at a decent hour in the evening... at least the times I've taken them.

UALTraveler:

Thanks for the tips, I never knew about the Cathay Pacific flights to BOM.

It just seems so odd to me that all the flights leave/depart so late in the evening. I'm sure business travellers don't like travelling those hours?!

I have to go to India on business in the next few weeks and other than flying Cathay there aren't any good options to flying at a resonable hour.

Anyone else with some ideas on why this is?

Could also be for weather considerations, especially fog, which tends to be very bad in mornings and evenings.
However, I think there are other flights available at other times. Last time I took Air India FCO-DEL-BOM, it was scheduled to arrive 7:30 am (but delayed 5 hrs due to fog). Was told "this happens a lot."

Most European bound flights take off at early hours so that they can reach their destinations mid-day. This way pax can make onwards connections. Also, flights from EU arrive late night, and the plane returns after a few hours, this way the metal is not idle for nearly a whole day.B747-437B might chime in, or post this in NW or DL forum where he hangs around. He is very knowledgable about Ops.

Oddly, I don't mind the middle of the night timings in Bombay. I think the arrival at midnight isn't great -- usually means you get to your destination at 2 or so which is late for sure. But leaving Bombay at 2 am is actually quite nice. You have to get to the airport by 11 anyway, and for flights to Europe you just get on the plane, go to sleep for 8 hours and wake up in the morning in London or Frankfurt or wherever. Whatever the case, driving to and from Sahar Airport at midnight is a lot better than during rush hour!

That said, UALTraveler is right--there are some decent flights now into BOM. The Cathay flight has a very nice arrival into BOM around 8 pm. I think the 4 am CX departure to BKK/HKG is extremely inconvenient actually, means you have to get to the airport at 2 which is way too late...

Thai's new flight BKK/BOM/BKK leaves BKK three days a week at about 6 pm, arrives BOM at about 9:30 pm, then turns around about 10 or 11 and goes back to BKK for a 4:20 am arrival (which makes a convenient connection for TG or UA back to the states).

[This message has been edited by kv99 (edited 05-18-2002).]

All US & EU carriers will continue to fly around midnight, so as to provide connections at their hub-cities.

Airlines can and do fly at other times as well. Most of my knowledge here is second hand (from other FT posts, net wisdom gained over the past few years and 75+ one way trips to India). QF used to arrive at a decent hr into BOM (discontinued for now). Canada3000 (??) was planning on arriving in the middle of the day into DEL via polar route and depart in late afternoon. Also some of the flts to Gulf states fly during day time hours.

Reasons for night arrivals/dept seem to be:
- There are concerns about heat and fuel loads (so most of the time they take off and land at night).
- Arriving into hub cities in Europe to hit the first bank of flts (since destination is dispersed hub cities such as LHR, FRA, AMS, CDG do spread the traffic that originates in BOM and DEL to a lot of destinations in the US and Europe).
- Concerns about fog (particularly in Delhi but also true in Bangalore, Bombay, etc.)
- ATC issues (domestic traffic drops off at night).
- Customs and immigration staffing efficiency (the govt might work with you if you bring a lot of traffic but otherwise, you will get skeleton staff).
- Most of the commercial flts carry freight traffic as well and their cut-off time is usually 2 to 4 hrs before departure. Night departures allow air shippers to ship today's orders.