The aviation ministry’s close monitoring of Air India’s (AI) daily operations seems to be paying off as the airline’s on-time performance (OTP) showed dramatic improvement in February as compared to the previous months.

AI’s OTP, which fell to 52.1% in January 2015 down from 59.8% the previous month, stood at 70.9% in February.

As first reported by Hindustan Times on February 9, aviation secretary V Somasundaram had started convening daily review meetings to monitor AI’s dismal OTP.

“AI’s OTP has shown tremendous improvement though it still remains the lowest amongst domestic carriers,” said aviation expert Subhash Goyal.

According to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s domestic air traffic grew by a strong 21.63% in February with airlines carrying 60.16 lakh passengers as compared to 49.46 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year.

Passenger traffic registered a growth of 21.48% during the first two months of 2015 as compared to the previous year. Vistara had the highest cancellation rate of 2.28%, as well as the lowest load factor of 58.6% in February.

A total of 1,092 passenger complaints were received in February, with the maximum registered against SpiceJet (4.5%). IndiGo had the highest market share of 37.1%, followed by Jet Airways (24.3%) and Air India (17.8%).