DGCA pulls up airlines over safety

Underlining the importance of aviation safety seriously, the DGCA on Thur­sday cautioned the airlines against neglecting this vital aspect due to financial constraints but ruled out closing down of any carrier.

Assering that no carrier would be allowed to adopt any “short cut measures” on the safety front, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation directed the airlines to sort out the safety issues in a time-bound manner. Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting of representatives of Kingfisher Airlines and Air India Express in this regard, the chief of DGCA Bharat Bhushan said “There is no cause for panic. The situation has certainly not come to that pass (where airlines’ permits are withdrawn). There has been no threat to close down any airline.”

He added: “All airlines are going through a critical patch. It is a challenge to see that their financial constraints do not hamper safety. It is our duty to ensure that nobody takes the short-cut on the safety front.”

The meeting came after a financial surveillance report of DGCA recommended stringent action including cancellation of flying permit of Kingfisher and restriction on Air India Express operations.

The report found widespread sickness in the sector and asked all airlines to take immediate measures to resolve the lapses.

Apart from cancellation of flying permits, the report also suggested steps like slashing of flights or asking the carriers to fly a lesser number of aircraft which they can properly maintain.

“All of them have been told about the lapses and asked to inform us about their plans to rectify their problems in a time-bound manner. If there are shortfalls, these will have to be addressed,” Bhushan added.

After the meeting, the civil aviation ministry issued a press release which said, “Airlines have been asked to submit their recovery plan with firm timelines next week. Financial Surveillance of Air India is proposed to be conducted by DGCA next week.”

The release said, in the background of reported financial stress experienced by scheduled domestic airlines, the DGCA carried out financial surveillance from safety perspective of these airlines in December, 2011.

“Several findings have been noted with respect to backlog of flight crew training, Flight Operations Quality Assurance monitoring, shortage of operational crew, delay in disbursement of salaries etc,” it added.

Though Kingfisher Airlines and Air India’s low budget carrier mainly faced the wrath of the civil aviation regulator, other airlines too got a rap on safety count. On Kingfisher, the report said “a reasonable case exists for withdrawal of their (Kingfisher’s) airline operator permit as their financial stress is likely to impinge on safety.”

Regarding AI Express, it said “a prima facie case exists for restricting their operations in view of safety issues.”