DGCA asked to remove financial from safety report

In a move that could raise eyebrows,the civil aviation ministry has asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to drop the word financial from the title

In a move that could raise eyebrows,the civil aviation ministry has asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to drop the word financial from the title Assessment of Impact of Financial Stress on Safety of Operations of the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR). The CAR is a guideline that lays down requirements for aviation sector players in the country and how an airline will be judged on a particular parameter.

DGCA,the aviation regulator,had earlier carried out a financial audit of the airlines to ascertain the impact of bad finances on their safety. The audit found that the stress on pilots and engineers due to non-payment of salaries for months would impact the safety of airline operations. However,the DGCA,for now,has maintained that this is just a name change as the regulator does not look at the overall financials of the airline.

There is no change in the rules. We are just changing the title of this CAR. Use of the word financial in it means we should go into all financials of an airline but that is not what we can do,and are only concerned with whatever impacts safety, said a senior DGCA official,on condition of anonymity.

The official further said that the request for a change in the usage of the term had come from the civil aviation ministry. The change in the name has been proposed,as DGCA is in the process of conducting a safety audit of Kingfisher Airlines and Air India Express.

Kingfisher is operating under huge financial stress and with a debt of around Rs 9,000 crore,forcing it to curtail its operations drastically. The carrier is operating only 20 per cent of the capacity that it used to operate in November last year and currently operates with 12 aircraft as compared to the earlier 66,and has reduced its daily flights to 90 from the earlier 360.

Air India Express,a low-cost wing of Air India,too is operating with a pilot shortage of 200 and had to curtail its operations due to the strike. The airlines fleet utilisation has been as low as less than six hours due to less pilots. Air India is operating with losses of Rs 20,000 crore and has not been able to pay salaries to its employees on time.