[New Delhi]IndiGo Takes off Duty 2 Pilots Who Put Mamata’s Life In Danger
Budget carrier IndiGo has taken off duty the two pilots of its Kolkata flight, carrying West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, over which a row had erupted following Trinamool Congress’ allegations that the aircraft was not accorded priority in landing despite fuel shortage.
Pilots operating flight 6E 342 have been kept off flying duties
.Following the uproar by the TMC members in Parliament, the government had said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had launched its probe into the issue.
Tag: DGCA
IndiGo Derosters 2 Pilots For Putting Mamata’s Life In Danger
Airlines Challenges Development Charges @Rs 8500 In HC :UDAN
[New Delhi]Airlines Challenges Development Charges @Rs 8500 In HC
The proposal to levy Rs 7500 to Rs 8500 per flight operated by Indian airlines to create a fund to develop regional airports under its UDAN scheme was today challenged in Delhi High Court which sought to know the government’s stand on the matter.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued notice to Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and sought their replies by December 21 regarding the challenge to the levy, which comes into effect from tomorrow.
The order came on the petition by Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) which has said that while the scheme allows it to pass on the levy to the passengers, it cannot do so as it is not a fee for which the carriers are rendering any service to the flyers.
The FIA, which represents scheduled carriers like Indigo, GoAir, Spicejet and Jet Airways, has sought quashing of the October 21 notification inserting the rule for imposing the levy as well as the November 9 order declaring rates of levy and the categories of the scheduled flights on which they would be imposed.
FIA, represented by senior advocate Arvind P Datar, said the levy would put an “immense financial burden”, estimated between Rs 388 crore to Rs 532 crore or more per annum, and sought orders prohibiting the AAI from collecting the levy.
It said that if the financial burden was passed on to the flyers, it would lead to an increase in tariff which would run counter to objectives of the National Civil Aviation Policy and the Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme under it to bring airfares down to affordable rates.
UDAN, as per the Centre, seeks to connect small cities by air as well as make flying more affordable for the people
151 Pilots+Crew Members Tested Positive for Alcohol
[New Delhi] ‘151 Pilots+Crew Members Tested Positive for Alcohol’
As many as 151 pilots and crew members tested positive for alcohol during pre-flight medical examination in the first ten months this year and action has been taken against them, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said today.
A total of 38 pilots and 113 cabin crew have tested alcohol positive during pre-flight medical examination for consumption of alcohol from January 1 to October 31 this year, he said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
Acting against such individuals, aviation regulator DGCA suspended privileges of license of pilots as well as privileges of authorisation of cabin crew.
“Further, the concerned airlines in compliance with DGCA’s order, have grounded all these pilots and cabin crew,” Raju said.
Aircraft Rules prohibits consumption of intoxicating and psychoactive substances by persons acting as, or carried in aircraft for the purpose of acting as pilot, commander, navigator, engineer, cabin crew or the other operating member of the crew.
In a separate written reply, Raju said 208 irregularities by pilots of various airlines have been reported to DGCA during 2015 and this year.
“A total of 15 irregularities by airlines have been reported to DGCA during last year and the current year 2016…
In all the cases, relevant enforcement action has been taken against the pilots and the airlines concerned,” he noted.
Minister without providing specific details, said that during a recent surveillance carried out by the regulator, it was found that one of the scheduled airlines was not strictly adhering to the requirements regarding breath analyser check
Spicejet+GoAir Came Close Over Goa Airspace
[New Delhi]Near Miss Over Goa Airspace.Spicejet+GoAir Came Close Over Goa Airspace
In a near miss incident, two aircraft came close to each other in Goa airspace,
The incident, involving a SpiceJet’s Hyderabad-bound plane from Goa and a GoAir aircraft operating on Nagpur-Mumbai route, took place yesterday, As per sources A probe has been ordered by the civil aviation regulator–Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA),
In the Indian airspace, two planes can fly at minimum permitted vertical separation of 1,000 feet, and a breach in this separation prompts the TCAS to go off.
DGCA Predicts More Domestic Flights This Winter
[New Delhi]DGCA Predicts More Domestic Flights This Winter
Domestic carriers will operate around 21 per cent more flights this winter as compared to the same period last year.
However, there will be lesser number of airports available for scheduled operations in the winters of 2016-17, a DGCA official said today.
Winter schedule for the Indian airlines will commence from October 30 this year and will go up to the last week of March 2017.
According to the official, under the winter schedule, which was approved recently, a total of 16,600 flights will be operated per week by the domestic airlines as against 13,744 flights operated by them in the winters of 2015-16,
an increase of 20.8 per cent.
Scheduled operations will be available to and from 76 airports during the winter schedule of 2016-17,
the official said adding 81 aerodromes were available for this purpose in the previous year
Ambitious GoAir Kicked Out 13 Flyers from Delhi-Srinagar flight
[New Delhi] GoAir Kicked Out 13 Flyers from Delhi-Srinagar flight
13 passengers were offloaded from a Srinagar-bound GoAir flight for creating ruckus
The incident happened on July 1 soon after the aircraft doors were closed and the flight was set for departure,
The passengers were purportedly on their way to Amarnath.
As per sources ,Incidentally, a senior official of aviation regulator DGCA who was on the flight asked the pilot to call in security and offload the unruly passengers,
GoAir, which has ambitious expansion plans, is also preparing for an initial public offer.
Recently, the airline got government’s approval to fly to nine countries including Iran, Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan
Indian Domestic Air Traffic Consecutively Jumped Growth in July Also:26%
[New Delhi] Indian Domestic Air Traffic Jumped Record 26% Growth in July
Domestic air passenger traffic jumped by nearly 26 per cent in July, registering double-digit growth for the 24th consecutive month with lower fares attracting more fliers.
IndiGo saw its market share climb to 39.8 per cent It had a market share of 37.9 per cent in June.
Latest data from aviation regulator DGCA showed that local airlines flew
85.08 lakh passengers in July compared to
67.62 lakh fliers recorded in the year-ago period.
This is the 24th straight month that domestic air traffic has registered high double-digit growth, which also comes against the backdrop of many airlines offering lower fares as they compete to attract more passengers.
In terms of market share in July,
IndiGo [39.8%]
Jet Airways (16.3%),
Air India (14.8 %),
SpiceJet (11.7%),
GoAir (8.4 %),
Vistara (2.6 %) and
AirAsia (2.2%).
When it comes to load factor — a measure of seat occupancy in flights — low-cost carrier
SpiceJet emerged on top with 92 %in July. The same stood at 93 % in June.
During July,
IndiGo’s load factor stood at 83.6 % higher than 77.9 % seen in the previous month.
Among other airlines,
GoAir registered a load factor of 90.3 % followed by Air Asia with 85.7 % while that of
Jet Airways and Vistara were 83.8 % and 75.2 % respectively.
National carrier Air India registered a lower load factor of 80.3 %in July compared to 82 % in June.
Scheduled domestic airlines shelled out compensation to the tune of Rs 35.56 lakh for denied boarding to passengers last month.
For cancellations, the carriers gave a total
compensation of Rs 23.22 lakh while the overall amount for
flight delays, a total amount of Rs 61.33 lakh was given “towards compensation and facilities”.
According to DGCA, 1,111 passengers were affected by
denied boarding, 4,796 people by cancellations and
delays impacted 65,953 passengers.
Last month, as many as 948 passenger-related complaints were received by the scheduled domestic airlines with maximum number coming against Air Pegasus — which saw disruptions in its operations amid financial woes.
As much as 34.2 % complaints were related to flight problems, followed by customer service (27.4 %) and baggage (17.5%).
25 Indigo’s Crew Members Faced Enforcement Action During Six Months Of This Year
[New Delhi] 25 IndiGo’s Crew Members Faced Enforcement Action Just Six Months
44 crew members, including pilots, of
Jet Airways faced enforcement actions this year till June end, followed by
IndiGo (25),
Air India (22),
Spicejet (15),
GoAir (8),
Vistara (4) and
AirAsia (2).
On August 11, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha informed Parliament that DGCA acted against 63 pilots of SpiceJet for operating flights beyond their stipulated duty hours. In 2014, there were 391 enforcement actions by the DGCA.
As per DGCA Reports ,270 airline crew violated safety norms this year
As many as 270 airline crew members, mostly pilots, were found violating safety norms this year by regulator DGCA which suspended over 150 of them, raising serious concerns about aviation safety.
The number paints an alarming picture as there was a total of
275 “enforcement actions” by DGCA last year, compared
270 such actions being initiated in less than eight months this year.
“Instances of safety violations are increasing. To curb such incidents, the regulator has stepped up surveillance activities,” a senior DGCA official said.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had earlier this week suspended flying licenses of two pilots of
Air India and
Jet Airways
for four years as they were found to be drunk soon after operating international flights. It had also directed the airlines to register FIRs against them.
Violation of safety requirements such as being drunk while operating a flight can also attract imprisonment.
One cabin crew member each from the two carriers have also been suspended for the same violation for one year.
As per latest data available with DGCA, there were safety violations involving around 270 airline crew members this year till August 12 and the number stood at 169 at the end of June.
Most of them were pilots, flight commanders and first officers.
High Court Rapped DGCA+AAI Over Air Passengers Safety
[Mumbai] High Court Rapped DGCA+AAI Over Air Passengers Safety
High Court Says Flyers Safety Is Of No Priority Of AAI And DGCA :
HC frowns upon AAI, DGCA over safety issues
“It seems that passenger safety is of no priority to you,” the Bombay High Court’s told Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as it rapped them for failing to ensure safety of air passengers and those living around airports.
A division bench of justices V M Kanade and M S Sonak directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to initiate demolition of a private residential building near the international airport here over height regulation violations.
The court also directed the civic body to register FIR against the developer of the project within 48 hours.
The court, which was hearing two PILs on the issue of high rises coming up around the airport, issued notices to the Director General of DGCA and Chairperson of AAI.
According to the petition, one building has been constructed very close to the boundary wall of the international airport and overlooks the runway. While the DGCA had permitted construction up to 19 metres, the said building is 34 metres high.
The high court also asked AAI and DGCA to conduct an immediate internal inquiry into the action taken in the past one year over navigation issues faced by aircraft due to unauthorised construction.
“You are waiting for accidents to happen. You can never take preventive action. Look at what happened in Mahad. The state has woken up only now to the need to survey all old bridges. It seems that passenger safety is of no priority to you,” the bench said.
Aviation Regulator ,Sathiavathy, Boarded Out For Labour Ministry
[New Delhi] Aviation Regulator M, Sathiavathy,Boarded Out For Labour Ministry
Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA),M, Sathiavathy has been named as Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment. She has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty in the Labour Ministry with immediate effect.
Sathiavathy will take over as Secretary in the Labour Ministry on superannuation of the present incumbent Shankar Agarwal, the order said, without mentioning the name of new DGCA
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