NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has read out the riot act to airlines to comply fully with all safety-related issues and asked them to cover the deficiencies in a time-bound manner.
Airlines have been directed to complete all pending probes into incidents that have been delayed for very long periods of times due to non-receipt of reports on spare parts from aircraft manufacturers. They have also been asked to have proper safety departments and get the regulatory nod for such sections and their heads from the DGCA at the earliest. When contacted, DGCA chief Bharat Bhushan said: "Our stand is of zero tolerance as far as air safety goes. All the laid down procedures and requirements have to be met and their compliance is being checked on a regular basis. Failure to do so would invite strict action. Everyone - airlines and airport operators - have to work together to ensure full safety for air travel."
The DGCA has come down heavily on airlines for either not having proper flight safety manuals or approved chiefs of safety. "Both AI and AI Express do not have an approved safety manual or chief and deputy chief of safety sections. Jet has submitted its safety manual to us. The AI top brass led by its new CMD Rohit Nandan is scheduled to meet this and some other safety-related issues with DGCA chief Bharat Bhushan on Monday," said sources.
Airlines probe incidents through their permanent investigation boards (PIB). Any probe requires feedback on the parts that are feared to have malfunctioned and caused the problem from aircraft manufacturers.
But very often, the big plane makers don't bother giving such reports and hence these probes, and corrective follow up action to be taken on their basis, gets delayed.
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