NEW DELHI, Jul 19 (NNN-PTI) – India’s airlines regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), yesterday tightened regulations for airlines, after repeated incidents of technical malfunctions in several flights over the past one month.
All airlines have been directed to comply with the new regulations by Jul 28.
In an order dated yesterday, the DGCA stated that, there have been reports of increased engineering-related occurrences, in scheduled airlines in recent times.
In a bid to ensure that airlines are adhering to the laid down standards, the DGCA had conducted several spot checks in the recent past, the official order added.
The spot checks carried out by the DGCA, indicated improper identification of cause of reported defect, an increasing trend of Minimum Equipment List (MEL) releases, and non-availability of required certifying staff to cater to multiple scheduled arrivals and departures in a short interval.
The DGCA order further stated that, it has also been noted that the airlines are resorting to frequent one-off authorisation to Category-A certifying staff at transit stations, which is not in line with existing regulatory provisions.
The airlines regulator mandated that an aircraft at base and transit stations will be released by certified staffers, having an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) Category B1/B2 license, with proper authorisation from their respective organisations.
Over the past month, several Indian air-bound aircraft reported technical snags, like smoke emitted in the cabin or engine malfunction, following which those flights were diverted to other countries for emergency landings.
Two Indian aircraft had to make emergency landings at Pakistan’s Karachi airport.
On July 6, the DGCA issued a show-cause notice to a private airline SpiceJet following at least nine incidents of technical malfunction in its aircraft since June 19. The DGCA is currently investigating all these incidents.
