No more drunk diving for parachutists: DGCA

Mumbai: Concerned about the risks associated with skydiving and the lack of a regulatory mechanism to prevent fatalities resulting from improper safety measures and reckless behaviour, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has formulated guidelines for adventure sports enthusiasts signing up to take the plunge. The governing body has made it mandatory for skydivers and parachutists to be affiliated with organisations approved by the DGCA and follow a prescribed safety protocol.

DGCA given 30 days to prove disabled not harassed

New Delhi: The court of the chief commissioner for persons with disabilities (CCPD) has asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to reply within 30 days, with proof, that people with disabilities are not being harassed or humiliated at airports and that security personnel have been sensitized towards them. The court wrote to DGCA after a person with locomotor disability claimed he was harassed and humiliated at Hyderabad Airport.

DGCA looks to regulate skydiving activities

New Delhi: Concerned about the increasing popularity of skydiving despite its “inherent risks”, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is planning to make it mandatory for individuals or entities carrying out parachuting activities to be affiliated with organisations it has approved and follow a prescribed safety protocol.

Parachuting and skydiving activities have predominantly been carried out under the aegis of the Army and the Air Force by using civil aircraft as permitted by Indian Aircraft Rules, 1937.

DGCA's findings due to lack of clarity in rules: Jet

New Delhi: With DGCA cracking down on over 130 pilots of Jet Airways on charges of flouting training norms, the airline on Thursday said the aviation regulator's findings were due to "lack of clarity" in its rules.

"Some of the audit findings have resulted due to a lack of clarity in the regulatory interpretation of the processes," the private carrier said in a statement here.

A Jet spokesperson said the its senior management would meet the Director General of Civil Aviaton and his team "to discuss the ambiguity in some of the existing regulation and will work closely with DGCA to close all the findings".

DGCA orders 500 stranded school kids to be flown from Leh to Delhi free of cost

New Delhi: The bad weather in Jammu and Kashmir has left 500 schoolchildren from north India stranded in Ladakh, where they had gone for tracking. The children were finally rescued and brought to Leh on Wednesday and now airlines have been asked to fly them to Delhi free of charge on Thursday morning.

"Air India will bring about 300 children. The rest will be brought on special flights by Jet Airways and GoAir. These special ferry flights will be operated on Thursday morning. Airlines have been asked not to charge the students," said a senior directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) official. About half of the 500 rescued children are from Rajasthan while the rest are from other north Indian states, including Delhi.

DGCA tells airlines to fly out people first, charge later

New Delhi: Stepping up efforts to help fly out those stranded in flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday instructed all airlines to collect airfare from stranded passengers, who do not have enough funds with them, only when they reach Delhi.

It also asked all airlines to cap the fares on Srinagar-Delhi and Leh-Delhi sectors to Rs 2,800 and Rs 3,000 and add additional flights to clear the rush of outbound tourists from Srinagar.

Officials said the decision to collect airfare only in Delhi for cash-strapped passengers has come as a boon as they were not able to access ATMs or any other modes for payment. The decisions were taken by DGCA Prabhat Kumar after consultations with airlines. All airlines have agreed to the decision taken against the backdrop of the floods.

DGCA mulls offering discount to flyers travelling without check-in luggage

Mumbai: Aviation agencies in India are planning to allow airlines to give a cash discount on ticket prices to domestic flyers who have no check-in baggage, as per a TOI report by Saurabh Sinha. While the rebate will be decided competitively by airlines, it is likely to be in the range of Rs 200 to Rs 300. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) thought of this win-win for airlines and passengers, weeks after it firmly told air carriers to continue allowing people check-in baggage up to a certain weight without any extra charge.

DGCA notice to 131 Jet pilots for flying without test

New Delhi: In one of the biggest crackdown on pilots of a single airline, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) Friday issued show cause notice to 131 pilots of Jet Airways for flying without clearing a mandatory biannual exam. The regulator asked Jet why flying licences of these 131 pilots should not be suspended or cancelled, apart from ordering the airline to remove its chief of training and issuing a show cause to the chief of operations.

Jet was also asked to ground three more pilots "whose training was found to be deficient" along with the regulator initiating action against some trainers who "imparted deficient simulator training to pilots". In all, the regulator acted against about 140 Jet Airways pilots in one go Friday.

DGCA, SpiceJet turned blind eye to repeated lapses by senior pilot

In what appears to be a clear violation of flight safety norms, both the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and low cost carrier SpiceJet disregarded official reports of lapses by the latter's pilot on two occasions. Even more shocking is the fact that the pilot in question, Capt Rahul Malhotra, was promoted twice after the first incident involving a hard landing at Jammu airport.

In the Jammu incident on October 4, 2013, Malhotra was responsible for a hard landing of the Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft that he was piloting. However, in the pre-flight check before departing for the next destination, Malhotra did not report the incident while completing the tech logsheet, which he got through with in a mere 10 minutes.

Flyers’ complaints on the rise: DGCA issues shape-up diktat to airlines

New Delhi: A large chunk of air travellers have been resenting problems relating to delayed flights and customer services of various airlines, though official data showed substantially less number of complaints in July compared to June.

The number of complaints received by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in July was 581 compared to 900 in June, official data showed.

Almost 30 percent of passenger complaints related to troubles with flight cancellations or delays, while about 25 percent of passengers expressed discontentment over customer services of various airlines, the July data showed.

DGCA red-flags airlines with 1,500 passenger complaints of very poor service

Reality can be bitter and passengers of domestic airlines in India often face it. True that low air fares have prompted a spurt in domestic fliers. But behind the glitzy photographs of aircrafts and promises of customer satisfaction, it's really a world of unhappy fliers at the airports in Delhi and other major cities. Their awful experiences shred the tall claims made by the domestic airlines into pieces. Across the airlines, from Air India to Spicejet, it's the same story. And the numbers of such experiences are increasing by the day.

DGCA surprise checks reveal leading airlines violating safety procedures

New Delhi: In April this year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) put up a presentation on safety standards for airline representatives that revealed some glaring lack of safety procedures by leading carriers.

The presentation, including pictures, were a compilation of about 50 safety issues detected by the aviation regulator during their surprise checks. ET has reviewed the presentation. "There were several instances of safety violation detected by our surveillance teams. We asked them to ensure that these things be taken care of because little things make a difference," said a senior DGCA official, who did not wish to be identified.

India's domestic air traffic dropped by 10 pc last month: DGCA

New Delhi:India's domestic air traffic dropped by about ten per cent last compared to June, latest data have revealed.

It declined to about 70 per cent compared to around 80 per cent in June, they said.

However on a year-on-year basis, the domestic airlines flew 52.16 lakh passengers in July this year registering a growth of 7.19 per cent over the 48.66 lakh passengers flown during the same period in the previous year, the data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed.

DGCA asks airlines to take steps to prevent spread of EVD into India

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued directives to all airlines operating on international routes on the precautionary measures to be taken by them to ensure that the Ebola virus disease (EVD), which has broken out in Western Africa, does not spread to India.

 

Among other things, the airlines have to make in-flight announcement advising travellers on self-reporting about any signs or symptoms of EVD. A copy of the announcement to be made has been provided to the airlines.

DGCA grounds 13 GoAir pilots, training chief

New Delhi:  The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has grounded 13 pilots of GoAir as the low-cost carrier (LCC) was allegedly making them fly aircraft without imparting the required training. The regulator also sacked GoAir's chief of training and issued show cause notices to the airline and also the pilots, asking them why action — which in pilots' case is grounding them for good — should not be taken against them.

Pilot needn’t serve notice if not paid, DGCA says

New Delhi: Airlines who default on their service condition agreements, like payment of salaries, with their employees could end up losing their valuable HR resources like pilots without any notice period.

The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) had last week asked Indian airlines to give a list of commanders who had quit without giving the mandatory six-month notice period and joined foreign carriers. The regulator had warned that such pilot could end up losing their licences.

Predictably, this decision was panned by pilots who questioned the DGCA threat to their licence. The reason: Many of them had quit as their Indian employer airline had unilaterally cut salaries, defaulted on payment or did not meet other service conditions.

Blizzard of rules by the aviation regulator DGCA threaten to 'kill’ air charter companies

Since February, a Cessna Citation CJ2 corporate jet, which on a good day can fly up to 1,700 miles nonstop, has been mostly lying idle at the Delhi airport. The aircraft belongs to developer Supertech Group, which has leased it for Rs 40 lakh a month. Yes, it is the same company that reportedly told the Supreme Court it would face ruin were it to immediately repay customers looking to exit a disputed residential project in Noida.

Supertech wants to use the aircraft to carry its executives to projects located in north India and liaise with government officials. It also harbours a strong desire to enter the charter business.

DGCA prods Tata-SIA to avoid licence delay

New Delhi: Call it the Narendra Modi impact. Government departments, which are often blamed for making business houses wait endlessly for clearances, are now chasing them to complete the paper work and let projects take off.

The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has asked the upcoming Tata-Singapore Airlines JV carrier to ensure that its operational staff is present at all regulatory meetings to avoid delay in launching operation. DGCA deputy director Ved Prakash wrote a letter to Tata-SIA CEO Phee Teik Yeoh last week after an internal report said that the upcoming airline's operational team did not come for some meetings.

14 aircraft grounded in 2014 after DGCA surprise checks

New Delhi: A total of 14 aircraft have been grounded by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation this year following surprise checks conducted as part of its oversight activity to ensure strict compliance of safety regulations.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati said in Lok Sabha that the aircraft were grounded after DGCA conducted 55 surprise special surveillance drive till June.

"Safety is a prime concern. There is no compromise on safety and we are second to none in the world in the matter of aircraft security," he said during Question Hour.

DGCA to act against pilots quitting without proper notice

New Delhi: With a large number of senior pilots quitting jobs in Indian carriers for greener foreign pastures, aviation regulator DGCA today warned of stringent action, including cancellation of licences, against those leaving without serving proper notice.

Attrition of senior pilots and commanders "may leave a vacuum of trained and qualified pilots with the scheduled domestic airlines which may result in last minute cancellation of flights and harassment to travelling public," a top DGCA official told PTI here.