DGCA examining AirAsia India's application for flying permit

New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA has begun examining start-up carrier AirAsia India's application for a flying permit after rejecting the objections it received from various quarters, including BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had set up a three-member committee to examine the objections raised against the proposal to grant Air Operators Permit (AOP) or flying licence to the no-frill airline launched by Malaysian carrier AirAsia, Tata Sons and Telstra Tradeplace.
The Committee, after going through the objections and their legal aspects, concluded that it found "no reasons to put on hold the processing of the application of M/s Air Asia (India) Pvt Ltd for issuance of Air Operator Permit (Sked), based on the above".

Lufthansa keen to fly A-380 to India

New Delhi: German airline Lufthansa is keen to bring the world’s largest passenger aircraft, Airbus 380, to India but the route on which it will operate and from when is yet to be firmed up, the airline’s Vice-President, Asia-Pacific region, Steffen Harbarth, said on Tuesday.
At the moment, Lufthansa operates 46 weekly flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai.

HC won't stop DRT proceedings against Kingfisher Airlines

Bangalore:  In further setback to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), its owner Vijay Mallya and UBHL, the holding company, the Karnataka high court on Tuesday disposed of their petitions while refusing to interfere with the proceedings initiated before the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Bangalore by a consortium of banks.
The banks had sought a recovery certificate from the DRT under Recovery of Debt Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993. A recovery certificate lists the debtor's assets, which can be sold by the lender to recover the dues.
Disposing of the petitions, Justice A S Bopanna, however, reserved liberty to the petitioners to approach the Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT), Chennai keeping open all their contentions.

Summer passengers hit in the pocket for flights to India

Muscat: Airlines flying to south Indian destinations have already increased the fares to cash in on the high demand for tickets from June 1 onwards, the data available with travel agents showed.
"The Indian schools will close for summer vacation in June first week. This is the time when Indians in Oman will fly back home for holidays. So, to make maximum profit, the airlines have already set high prices for tickets to the south Indian destinations," Raji Demonte, general manager at Universal Travel and Tourism Agencies in Oman, said.
According to the data available, the fares to Kerala and Mumbai for travel in June are three or four times higher than current prices.

US couple fined for smuggling chickpeas, popcorn from India

Washington: An American couple was fined for trying to smuggle into the US about 30 pounds of undeclared and prohibited food products from India. Customs and Border Police (CBP) seized 25 pounds of chickpeas and five pounds of popcorn with green curry leaves from the couple, who tried to sneak in these product unauthorisedly in seven of the eight bags they were bringing from India.
The couple, whose names have not been released by the US CBP, were coming from India and live in Pennsylvania. They have been slapped with a fine of USD 500.

Air India may lose additional revenue from Star Alliance if EU downgrades DGCA: Experts

Mumbai: Air India's hope of joining the Star Alliance this summer could get adversely affected if safety regulators in European Union (EASA), Singapore (CAAS), Japan (CAB), UAE (GCAA) and others follow the move of US regulator FAA of downgrading India's safety ranking to category 2 from category 1.

No plan to cap airline licences: Ajit Singh

Mumbai: The government has no plans to cap airline permits, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Tuesday. Singh, however, has asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to carry out a study of capacity and demand growth and wants the  aviation regulator to review some of the licencing norms including the minimum paid up capital requirement for starting an airline. This is being done to ensure financial health of aviation sector in India, he said.

10 Most Dangerous Airlines To Fly With

According to the JACDEC survey India's national carrier, Air India has ranked third in the list of most dangerous airlines. It is the flag carrier airline of India which operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving Asia, Europe and North America. This airline has three hull losses with 329 people dead. One such incidents of massive lost of lives was on the Air India flight 182 that crashed on 23 June 1985, on board there were 268 Canadians, 27 British citizens and 24 Indians. Among Indian airlines, even Jet Airways have also come up in this list as the 24th most dangerous airline.
The world’s fifth-dangerous airline in terms of flying safety is Korean Airlines. This serves both the flag carrier and the largest airline of South Korea, with global headquarters located in, Seoul, South Korea. The Airlines have recorded nine hull loses and 687 people dead in the past 30 years. Two crashes between 2000-2013 and eight crashes in the 1990's.

Global flight ops from Biju Patnaik airport from early March

Bhubaneswar : The trial run of international flight operations from the Biju Patnaik airport in the city is set to take off from the first week of March.
This was decided at a high level meeting on Monday chaired by chief secretary J K Mohapatra. Global carriers like flydubai and Air Asia have submitted schedules to run commercial operations from Bhubaneswar. While flydubai will offer connectivity from Bhubaneswar to Dubai, Air Asia will run flights between Bhubaneswar and Kuala Lumpur.

Jet connects IT City to Gulf from March

Mangalore: Jet Airways will connect the IT city to the Gulf from March 1. The carrier has announced Bangalore's maiden flight to Abu Dhabi and a new daily direct service from Hyderabad to Abu Dhabi effective March 1. At present, it operates a daily flight each from Delhi, Kochi and Chennai and 11 flights a week from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi.
These two new routes will be serviced by the airline's next generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

23 airports developed in seven years remain un-operational

New Delhi: Two civil aviation ministers spent crores of rupees over construction of 23 airports during their stints. But all these airports non-operational with no scheduled operators to fly. They only prove useful for union ministers and other VVIPs for their personal use.
Praful Patel, who was civil aviation minister for over seven years, had approved five airports in his home state Maharashtra – one each in Gondia, Akola, Jalgaon, Sholapur and Kolhapur.
The current minister Ajit Singh too has given approval for nine such airports in his home state Uttar Pradesh. Singh said that these airports were approved after conducting a feasibility study.
Besides, 18 other such airports were built in the past ten years which so far have remained non-operational. They include Behara in West Bengal, Begumpet in Hyderabad, Kandla and Keshod in Gujarat, Kota, Jaisalmer and Bhatinda in Rajasthan, Pant Nagar in Uttarakhand, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Lakhimpur and Tezpur in Assam, Pathankot and Bhatinda in Punjab, Salem in Tamil Nadu and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh.

Jet fuel price cut by about 3 per cent

New Delhi: The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, has been reduced by about 3 per cent on softening international oil rates - the first reduction in two months.
ATF price at Delhi was reduced by Rs. 2169.13 per kilolitre, or 2.8 per cent, to Rs. 74,072.20 per kl, according to Indian Oil Corp, the country's largest fuel retailer.
The reduction follows two rounds of price hikes - Rs. 597.48 per kl, or 0.8 per cent, increase on December 1, 2013 and Rs. 2,036.59 per kl, or 2.74 per cent, hike on January 1, 2014.

India: If our airlines flying to US are harassed, we will do the same

The straining of Indo-US ties which saw Indian aviation safety ranking downgraded to Nicaragua level could now see India taking the unprecedented step of mounting checks on foreign airlines' aircraft. Top aviation ministry sources say India will take all steps red-flagged by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by March-end and would then 'expect' to be restored to category I of aviation safety ranking.
"We quickly expect to be back in category I after being questionably downgraded last week. All the steps will be taken by then. If still the downgrade is not reversed and our airlines flying to US are harassed unnecessarily, we will retaliate doing the same," said a top source.

Bhutan's national airline Drukair to connect Mumbai with Thimphu

Siliguri: Indo-Bhutan air link is getting stronger with the plan of Bhutan's national airline Drukair to connect Indian city Mumbai with Thimphu. The connectivity with India's financial capital and gateway to outer world is expected to widen the path of entry for the foreign tourists to Indian as well as landlocked Bhutanese continent.
As the airline's plan goes, the connectivity is getting operational by 1st May 2014. According to Drukair sources, it will have twice in a week flight to Mumbai. The airline is finalizing the route from Thimphu to Mumbai, either via Nepal's capital Kathmandu or direct. Though yet to be announced, the fare is likely to be slightly higher than Thimphu-Delhi fare.
According to Drukair CEO, T Jamso, Drukair was working on Mumbai connectivity with a plan to start it in 2013 only.

European Union to discuss India's aviation safety next month

New Delhi: European Union (EU) is closely monitoring issues related to aviation safety in India and will discuss the factors which led to Federal Aviation Administration downgrading India's safety rank in an internal meeting next month. However according to EU's own findings there are no immediate or major concerns with regard to Indian aviation at present.
On Friday the US Federal Aviation Administration downgraded India's safety ranking from category I to II after an audit revealed deficiencies in safety oversight in India. The FAA's decision can lead to a ripple effect with other civil aviation authorities taking a tough stance, aviation experts had said.
"The European Commission (DG Mobility and Transport) has regular contacts with the Indian civil aviation authorities. The downgrade by the FAA of India's International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) status is of significant interest to the EU,'' European Commission spokesperson Dale Kidd said in an email response.

FAA downgrade puts Jet into tailspin

Mumbai: United Airlines’ decision to suspend a code share partnership with Jet Airways (in the wake of the US Federal Aviation Administration's decision to downgrade India's safety ranking) will impact the Indian airline, which earns about 15 per cent of its revenue from interline and code share sales.
Jet had also earlier announced a relaunching of its New York service in May and plans to launch a Chicago flight in the winter schedule. These new services could get impacted due to the FAA decision, too.
Interline and code shares are commercial agreements which allow one airline to sell tickets on flights operated by a partner airline. United, along with Air Canada, Brussels Airlines and Qantas, are the top code share partners of Jet Airways. Etihad will join the list as the Gulf  airline expands its partnership with Jet.
It is not clear whether Jet can continue placing its code on United-operated flights following the FAA downgrade. Jet did not respond to an email query on the issue.

Foreign airlines’ planes may soon face checks

New Delhi: The straining of Indo-US ties which saw Indian aviation safety ranking downgraded to Nicaragua level could now see India taking the unprecedented step of mounting checks on foreign airlines' aircraft. Top aviation ministry sources say India will take all steps red-flagged by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by March-end and would then 'expect' to be restored to category I of aviation safety ranking.
"We quickly expect to be back in category I after being questionably downgraded last week. All the steps will be taken by then. If still the downgrade is not reversed and our airlines flying to US are harassed unnecessarily, we will retaliate doing the same," said a top source.
The source added that aviation minister Ajit Singh chose senior IAS officer and his close confidante Prabhat Kumar to be the chief of directorate general of civil aviation at this crucial time keeping this challenge in mind. "Kumar is a very tough taskmaster. He will do what it takes to get DGCA back in category I at the earliest. And if still we are wrongly kept downgraded and our airlines harassed, Kumar knows what to do," said a top aviation ministry source, clearly hinting at a tit-for-tat retaliation.

8 airports in UP to be upgraded

In a major development just weeks ahead of elections, the UPA government at the Centre and the UP state government (of the Samajwadi Party) have decided to give the green signal to the development of eight existing airports in Uttar Pradesh, including locations such as Meerut, Agra, Allahabad, Kanpur and even Etawah (Saifai) which is the native village of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Flying is not option of only the wealthy: Ajit Singh

Varanasi: Union civil aviation minister Ajit Singh said that large states like UP should think of better air connectivity for rapid development.
Singh was here on Sunday to unveil the statue of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport. Addressing a function, he said: "It's a myth that air journey is for wealthier people and capitalists. Even emerging entrepreneurs as well as people from service class have started thinking of time saving journey.

Grounded in favouritism

Indore:  For Indore's Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport, stop-gap arrangement seems to have become a permanent fixture. A Delhi-based company which was given the parking contract for the airport, is being offered one after another extensions by Indore airport authorities. The contract given to the company way back in November 2012 just for two months, is yet to expire.
The airport witnesses a large number of four and two-wheelers everyday and the earning runs into several lakhs every month. It is one of the prime sources of revenue for the airport.

Airline told to pay Rs 40,000 for not allowing ‘valid’ passenger to fly

Mumbai:  A consumer forum has directed JetKonnect to pay Rs 40,000 compensation to a Mumbai resident, who was not allowed to board a Bagdogra-Kolkata flight in 2010 due to overbooking. The forum observed that the airline should have accommodated the flyer on the flight as he had a valid ticket. The forum said that the airline's behaviour amounted to deficiency in service.
Abhishek Agarwal filed the complaint before the Mumbai Suburban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on March 31, 2011. Agarwal was scheduled to travel from Bagdogra to Mumbai via Kolkata on April 4, 2010. He had booked a ticket through an agent for Rs 5,700. On the day of the journey, Agarwal said he arrived at the airport ahead of the schedule but was told that all the seats were full and that he could not board the flight. Agarwal had to go back and could only take a via-Delhi flight the next day. He said he was forced to spend money to book a hotel in Bagdogra.
Read News In Full 03/02/14 Rebecca Samervel/Times of India

British Airways to Pay Rs 5L for Not Helping Stranded Fliers

New Delhi: British Airways has been directed by a consumer forum to pay Rs 2.5 lakh each to two doctors for leaving them to "fend for themselves" after their flight from London to Delhi was cancelled due to a snowstorm.
The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission said the airline "violated the basic courteous behaviour" expected of it by not making arrangements of food and stay for its passengers and their "violation of duty to care" is "actionable negligence".
The state commission made the observation while dismissing the airline's appeal against the order of a district consumer forum which had directed it to pay Rs 2.5 lakh each to the two Delhi-based doctors - Kamal Kumar and Mukesh Mehra.

Airport Authority Of India takes nine years to install Shastri's statue at Babatpur airport

Varanasi:  The Airport Authority Of India took nine long years to install the statue of former Prime Minister of India late Lal Bahadur Shastri at Babatpur airport after it was renamed in October 2005. In October 2012, it got the status of international airport and renamed as Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport Babatpur Varanasi.After these developments the ministry of civil aviation and AAI realised the need that a statue of Shastri should also be installed in the airport premises. Finally, the on Sunday the statue was unveiled by union civil aviation minister Ajit Singh.
Read news in full 03/02/14 Times of India

Local women wrap Mumbai Airport's Terminal 2 in quilts

Mumbai: Art knows no barriers. Hundred-and-fifty quilts that adorn 2,000 sq ft of the recently inaugurated T2 terminal of the Mumbai International Airport Pvt Limited (MIAL) bears testimony to this statement. Designed by 35 women of the Samrat Ashok Nagar area in Chakala, Andheri, this artwork titled Wrapping the Runway is 200 feet broad and 11 feet high and is a part of India Global, one of the six thematic compositions of the art programme titled Jaya Hai that is on display at T2.
The artwork is the brainchild of Rajeev Sethi, scenographer and principal curator of GVK. He got the idea for roping in locals for this project and giving them an opportunity to display their talent when he saw some quilts (godhadis) designed by them drying on clotheslines at Samrat Ashok Nagar in Andheri East. He found these quilts unique and approached the residents expressing a willingness to buy them. Sethi says, "Godhadis fit perfectly in the theme of India Global, depicting to the world our rich cultural heritage in terms of handicrafts."

Two US airlines suspend code share deal with Jet

New Delhi: Indian carriers have started to feel the heat after the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) downgraded the country’s aviation safety rating. A day after India’s airline safety rating was revised below that of Pakistan’s, United and American Airlines suspended their code share agreement with Jet Airways, according to a Bloomberg report.
An SMS sent to Jet Airways spokesperson did not elicit any response. The FAA downgrade implies that the civil aviation authorities do not meet the safety guidelines stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.  India’s airline safety is now Category II, at par with countries like Zimbabwe, Paraguay and Indonesia. Pakistan has Category I status.

Air India, Jet Airways hit hard… flights to US to be affected

US authorities have downgraded India's aviation safety rating, citing a lack of safety oversight, meaning the country's carriers cannot increase flights to the world's biggest aviation market and face extra checks for existing ones.
Jet Airways and state-run Air India, the only two carriers that fly from India to the United States, will be hit by the downgrade. Air India has 21 weekly flights between India and the United States, while Jet has seven.
Hours after the FAA downgrade, United Airlines said it would suspend a marketing pact with Jet, with effect from Saturday. FAA rules bar US carriers from code-sharing arrangements with airlines from countries that have been downgraded.

Aviation safety downgrade not related to row over envoy: US

Washington: The US downgrade of India’s aviation regulator had “absolutely nothing” to do with the controversy over an Indian diplomat whose arrest led to a major international dispute, a senior US official said.
“This absolutely had nothing to do with the ongoing case of Dr Khobragade,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters on Friday when asked if the US action would hurt efforts to restore ties with India after their worst diplomatic spat over the December 12 arrest of Devyani Khobragade, India’s then deputy consul general in New York.
“Again, this was a regulatory decision,” she said referring to the US Federal Aviation Authority’s downgrade of the safety ranking of India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from category-I to category-II rating.

Spice jet restores air services from Mysore city

Mysore: Once again the city got its air connectivity restored with the Spice Jet ATR plane taking off from the air port here on Saturday. Mysore MP Vishwanath flagged off the first flight of the Spice jet plane from the Mysore's Mandkalli airport.
Earlier the Kingfisher airways which used to operate its flight thrice a week stopped its services six seven months ago owing to losses suffered by the company. It was also said that the air services to Mysore from Bangalore are not profitable and this was the reason the private air service operators were reluctant to operate their services from Mysore. However , after negotiations and persuasion by the state government and MP Vishwanath with the private airways, Spice jet came forward and agreed to operate its services six days a week. People from city can now fly directly to Chennai via Bangalore or they can travel to Bangalore or to other destinations from Bangalore by connecting planes.

Chandy hopeful of pursuing Air Kerala

Kochi: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday said that the State government would pursue the proposed Air Kerala project if Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh’s declaration doing away with the twin-conditions for starting international airline operations becomes a reality.
He was delivering the inaugural address at a function to mark the laying of the foundation stone for the new international terminal at the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) at Nedumbassery near here. Mr. Chandy said that the proposed airline had been a longstanding demand of Malayali expatriates. The Union government’s stipulation setting five years of domestic operations and a fleet of a minimum 20 aircraft had put the project on the backburner. If these conditions were removed, then CIAL would take the project forward, he said.

Tit-for-tat rule for diplomat access to airport lounges

New Delhi: Foreign diplomats of countries where Indian dignitaries have to pay for lounge access at airports will now have to do the same here. Aviation minister Ajit Singh has ordered the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to make available free lounge access only on a reciprocal basis.
The move comes after the airport passes of US diplomats were withdrawn following the controversy surrounding Devyani Khobragade, an Indian diplomat accused of visa fraud in New York.
"There are countries which charge to give lounge access to our dignitaries. So far, we had been giving lounge access to foreign dignitaries for free. Now, we will do so on a reciprocal basis and I have asked AAI to make lounge access available for a charge," Ajit Singh told TOI.

Survey work on expansion of Jaipur airport runway begins

Jaipur: After a wait of nearly two years the survey for the runway expansion work at Jaipur airport started on Saturday. The civil work would begin from March 1 by an Udaipur-based firm and Airport Authority of India (AAI) is aiming at completing the work by July 2015 to accommodate big international aircrafts.
The runway will remain closed from 9.30-11.15 am and from 2.50-3.50 pm during the first phase of work from February 1-March 31. These slots are taken just to ensure that minimal number of flights have to be rescheduled. "These are the slots when we merely have three flights. Two Air India flights from Delhi to Mumbai via Jaipur and one flight to Ahmedabad were rescheduled," said SN Borkar, director, AAI, Jaipur.

Customs probing link between rise in gold smuggling and export of date rape drugs

Mumbai: Customs officials are probing a possible link between the sudden spurt in the smuggling of gold into the country, and the illegal export of date rape drugs. The investigation was triggered by a more than three-fold increase in seizures of smuggled gold, with this month's being the largest in the past decade.
In the last financial year (up to January '13), the total seizure of gold amounted to 54 kg. The total seizure during the same period this year is 182 kg. This month alone, customs seized 57 kg, which has surpassed the cumulative figure of the last financial year. "Gold smuggling is on a rise compared to the figures in last many years. The current month's seizure is the highest in the past 10 years," said Milind Lanjewar, additional commissioner of customs at Mumbai airport.

Indian pilots not allowed to leave airport at Lahore

Lahore: Three Indian nationals, employees of Qatar Airways, were denied permission by FIA Immigration officials to stay at a local hotel after their flight’s transit stop at Lahore was extended due to poor visibility caused by foggy weather.
Under the IATA rules and practice of the aviation industry, it is a normal procedure that in case of an extended delay at a transit spot where the flight / cabin crew need to be moved to a hospitable facility till the flight can resume its course, the airline requests the immigration department to issue a letter of permission which is in a way considered a short-term visa.
This situation is mostly avoided at the majority of major airports which have hotels and other facilities built within their premises. The Allama Iqbal International Airport, however, does not have such an arrangement; therefore, the flight / cabin crew stay at hotels outside the airport premises in these circumstances.
It is not the first time that the crew of a flight has had to stay at a facility outside the airport in Lahore and there have been innumerable incidents where the relevant authority provides permission to the airline after necessary paperwork.

No recruitment in DGCA since 1998

New Delhi: Indian aviation, flaunted as a sunshine sector during the UPA-1 regime, has now become an international embarrassment. Still, the US downgrade of Indian aviation safety ranking is being seen as a last-ditch attempt to get the Indian government to move on strengthening the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Since 1998, there has been no recruitment in DGCA. It was only in the past few months, when the sword of the FAA downgrade came too close, that the government took some last-minute steps. But all of them are on paper and implementing them will still take a long time.

Bangalore's Famed Plane-Maker Finally Cracks Engineering in 10 Years

Bangalore: Ten years after he enrolled for his dream engineering course, Mohd Muzakkir Sharief, the wiz kid who hit international headlines for his plane-making skills, has finally cleared all his papers. A student of Bangalore's H K B K College of Engineering, Muzakkir, now 33-years-old, married, and on his family way, cleared two of his backlog sixth semester subjects -- Heat and Mass Transfer and Mechanical Vibration -- during the exams conducted by Visvesvaraya Technological University recently. After 10 years of marathon struggle, Muzakkir has an aggregate of 57 per cent in Mechanical Engineering.
Speaking to Express on Thursday, an elated Muzakkir said that his entire teaching staff and friends were finally relieved to hear the good news. "I took sweets to college and everyone kept telling me that I would become someone in life. I always wanted to be a winner, but couldn't crack the engineering code in four years. I had to fight serious health issues, including TB," he said. He made close to 15 attempts to clear his mathematics papers.

IndiGo launches six new flights

Chennai: Low-cost airliner IndiGo has introduced six new flights on its route connecting various destinations with effect from February 1.
The daily schedule would witness addition of a new non- stop flight between Delhi and Bagdogra, non-stop flight between Kolkata and Bagdogra and Bangaluru-Chennai, non-stop flight between Chennai-Kolkata, ninth non-stop filght between Mumbai-Bangalore and one stop flight between Chennai and Bagdogra via Kolkata, IndiGo said in a statement.

How FAA air safety downgrade impacts Indian carriers

The Federal Aviation Administration in the United States downgraded India’s aviation safety ranking from Category I to Category II, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said Friday. A Category II ranking means DGCA does not meet international civil aviation standards in areas of “technical expertise, trained personnel and record keeping”. The downgrade will impact Indian carriers such as  Jet Airways and Air India, which fly to the US, barring them from expanding their services further in the world’s biggest aviation market, till further notice. Apart from impacting US expansion plans of Indian carriers present there, the downgrade also affects code-sharing agreements that companies of Category II countries may have. Such a rating for a country may lead to other troubles for its carriers as their flights may be subjected to closer scrutiny and checks, which could lead to difficulty in adhering to schedule. Leasing and borrowing costs for such carriers could also go, putting further stress on their balance sheets.

FAA decision to downgrade India disappointing: Ajit Singh

New Delhi: Commenting on the United States Federal Aviation Administration's decision to downgrade India's aviation safety ranking, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Friday described the decision as disappointing and surprising.
"It is very disappointing and also very surprising. If we look now, we are in compliance with 95 percent of the issues they had raised. Their report has not into taken account things that have happened since then. It is based only on what the situation was in December," Singh told media here today.
"FAA's report is based on their visit in December when seven issues were outstanding out of 31. Based on that they said, we have complied with 75 percent of the issues. Therefore, they have downgraded us to Category Two," he added.