<p>Kingfisher Airlines and Air India Express on Monday submitted their respective responses on time-bound plans to address air safety and financial aspects in the wake of the DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) finding glaring lapses regarding these matters in its audit reports. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The budget carrier IndiGo also sent in its reply on the shortcomings found by the aviation regulator. The DGCA had found all major airlines compromising with safety and directed them to resolve all such issues in a time-bound manner.<br /><br />The DGCA also asked the carriers to respond to the findings this week and take urgent action to rectify the situation. Among various issues, Kingfisher was asked to submit a plan on recovery of its flights and recapitalisation of the airline.<br /><br />The DGCA’s financial surveillance report had said that “a reasonable case exists for withdrawal of their airline operator permit as their financial stress is likely to impinge on safety.”<br /><br />About Air India Express the audit report said that it had shortage of pilots, check pilots and cabin crew and did not have deputy chief of flight safety, uses simulators of Jet Airways to train pilots. The Air India simulators remained unserviceable, it added. <br /><br />Regarding Jet Airways it says its number of trainers is not as per the norm and the international stations are not audited for two years. The airline cancelled one-third of flights in 2011 due to poor loads. The JetLight lacks pilots and cabin crew and has no software for black box, the report adds.<br /><br />About the IndiGo, the audit report says that its fast growth induction plan of the fleet needs to be reviewed. It speaks about a large number of premature removal of engines and says the modifications are done to the engines of A320, used for short-haul flights, so that these could fly longer distances. Severe shortage of trainers and minor incidents involving safety not being reported have also been discussed. About GoAir the report says that it has an inadequate number of trainers; does not have software for monitoring inventory. SpiceJet, the audit says, does not have software for blackbox etc.<br /><br />While the Kingfisher reacted last week saying it was complying with DGCA instructions <br />and that it had not compromised with safety. IndiGo said on Monday that it had not flouted any safety norms by not reporting incidents of flight duty times of airlines’ personnel or occurrences of snags, which were mentioned in a report by the aviation watchdog. <br /><br />In its detailed rebuttal to the issues raised by the DGCA, the low-cost airline said “IndiGo is a very quality conscious airline and passenger safety is paramount to our company’s mission and values...”</p>
<p>Kingfisher Airlines and Air India Express on Monday submitted their respective responses on time-bound plans to address air safety and financial aspects in the wake of the DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) finding glaring lapses regarding these matters in its audit reports. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The budget carrier IndiGo also sent in its reply on the shortcomings found by the aviation regulator. The DGCA had found all major airlines compromising with safety and directed them to resolve all such issues in a time-bound manner.<br /><br />The DGCA also asked the carriers to respond to the findings this week and take urgent action to rectify the situation. Among various issues, Kingfisher was asked to submit a plan on recovery of its flights and recapitalisation of the airline.<br /><br />The DGCA’s financial surveillance report had said that “a reasonable case exists for withdrawal of their airline operator permit as their financial stress is likely to impinge on safety.”<br /><br />About Air India Express the audit report said that it had shortage of pilots, check pilots and cabin crew and did not have deputy chief of flight safety, uses simulators of Jet Airways to train pilots. The Air India simulators remained unserviceable, it added. <br /><br />Regarding Jet Airways it says its number of trainers is not as per the norm and the international stations are not audited for two years. The airline cancelled one-third of flights in 2011 due to poor loads. The JetLight lacks pilots and cabin crew and has no software for black box, the report adds.<br /><br />About the IndiGo, the audit report says that its fast growth induction plan of the fleet needs to be reviewed. It speaks about a large number of premature removal of engines and says the modifications are done to the engines of A320, used for short-haul flights, so that these could fly longer distances. Severe shortage of trainers and minor incidents involving safety not being reported have also been discussed. About GoAir the report says that it has an inadequate number of trainers; does not have software for monitoring inventory. SpiceJet, the audit says, does not have software for blackbox etc.<br /><br />While the Kingfisher reacted last week saying it was complying with DGCA instructions <br />and that it had not compromised with safety. IndiGo said on Monday that it had not flouted any safety norms by not reporting incidents of flight duty times of airlines’ personnel or occurrences of snags, which were mentioned in a report by the aviation watchdog. <br /><br />In its detailed rebuttal to the issues raised by the DGCA, the low-cost airline said “IndiGo is a very quality conscious airline and passenger safety is paramount to our company’s mission and values...”</p>
