Image used for representation purpose only.

‘The commercial interests of an airline have taken priority over crew fatigue and the safety of passengers’
| Photo Credit: PTI

New Delhi:

The Annual Safety Review-2023 released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) indicated that air travel has significantly improved compared to the last two years.

On Wednesday, DGCA published the Annual Safety Review-2023. It informed that the safety performance assessment when compared to the past two years indicates that the number of Risk Bearing Airprox per million flights over Indian Airspace has reduced by 25 percent and achieved the target.

The number of GPWS/EGPWS warnings per 10,000 departures has reduced by 92 per cent and achieved the target. This reduces the risk of Controlled flight into Terrain.

The number of unstabilized approaches that continue to land per ten thousand approaches has shown a continuous decreasing trend with a reduction of approximately 23 per cent and met the target. This reduces the risk of Runway Excursions and Abnormal Runway Contact.

DGCA has published the National Aviation Safety Plan (NASP) identifying the National – High-Risk Categories of Occurrences (N-HRCs) in line with the ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP).

The performance of NASP in terms of safety performance indicators (SPI) and safety performance targets is assessed annually and published in the form of the Annual Safety Review (ASR).

It presents the analysis of the aggregate safety data derived from the DGCA database and external sources such as ICAO iSTARS for the preceding year.

This data-driven approach ensures a firm embedding of the safety culture in the aviation growth trajectory and provides a robust process to identify emerging safety issues and continually refine existing procedures.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Friday imposed a financial penalty of Ninety Lakh rupees on Air India Limited for operating a flight with non-qualified crew members.

In addition, a penalty of Rupees Six Lakhs and Rupees Three Lakhs respectively is imposed on the Director Operations and Director Training of Air India.

Further, the concerned pilot has been warned to exercise caution to prevent such occurrences in future. Air India Limited operated a flight commanded by a non-trainer line captain paired with a non-line-released first officer which has been viewed by the regulator as a serious scheduling incident having significant safety ramifications.

The incident came to the notice of DGCA through a voluntary report submitted by Air India Limited on 10th July 2024.

Taking cognizance of this incident, the regulator undertook comprehensive investigations into Air India Limited operations including examination of documentation and spot check of Air India Limited Scheduling Facility.

Based on the investigation, it was prima facie revealed that there are deficiencies and multiple violations of the regulatory provisions by several post holders and staff, which could significantly affect safety.

The concerned commander of the flight and DGCA approved Post Holders of Air India Limited were provided an opportunity to explain their position vide show cause notices (SCNs) dated 22 July 2024. The reply submitted by the concerned failed to provide a satisfactory justification. As such, DGCA has initiated enforcement action in terms of provisions of the extant rules, and regulations and imposed the above penalty.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament on July 31, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

In what is likely to bring relief to aspiring pilots and other aviation personnel, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has proposed to bring the exam conducted on the use of radio communication equipment in an aircraft under the ambit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) under the new Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak Bill, 2024 tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Bill will replace the Aircraft Act of 1934.

The Bill was tabled by the Minister for Civil Aviation Rammohan Naidu amidst a protest from Kerala MP N.K. Premachandran, who questioned why the name of the statute was in Hindi alone. The Constitution mandated that Bills brought to Parliament should be in English, Mr. Premachandran said. “For people from South India, it is very difficult to even pronounce bharatiya vayuyan vidheyak. What is the logical reason behind this? I am questioning the legislative competence of the Bill,” the MP said.

The Statement of Objects and Reasons stats that the Bill was being introduced because the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, 1934 has been amended several times and “a need is felt to address the ambiguities and confusion experienced by the stakeholders, to remove redundancies, to enable ease of doing business and to provide for manufacture and maintenance in the aviation sector”.

The proposed legislation will bring the Radio Telephone Operator Restricted (RTR) Certificate and Licence testing process from the Department of Telecom (DoT) to the DGCA, and ease the process for pilots as they can secure all their certificates from one authority, a senior official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation said. The exam is also conducted for aircraft maintenance engineers and flight despatchers.

It’s an open secret in the aviation industry that the RTR exam is the toughest to crack due to allegedly widespread corruption. Many pilots recount paying up to ₹2.5 lakh as bribes to appear for the exam, with touts indicating a dress code for the day of the exam so that candidates could be ‘identified’ at the exam centre. Others narrate how they preferred getting the same licence, which is also recognised in India, from a Commonwealth country, including Australia or Canada, because the probability of clearing the test in due course in India was so remote.

Aspiring pilots said that if the proposal came through, they would be able to appear for the RTR exam in any of the DGCA’s 14 exam centres instead of only five centres in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, where the DoT was conducting it.

Photo used for representation purpose only.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The privatisation of Air India leading to the transfer of its ownership by the government to Tata Sons in 2022 and the ensuing transformation plan being undertaken at the airline has triggered a strategic transformation in the country’s airline sector.
This was a remarkable milestone and the boldest reform since the second wave of liberalisation that commenced in financial year 2004. At the time of Air India’s acquisition, CAPA India had anticipated this would be a critical inflection point that would stabilise the airline system which, in turn, would have a positive impact on the entire value chain, possibly even beyond the borders of India. 

Key developments in the sector

Let’s look at the key developments in the sector since 2022. Last year, Air India placed an order for a record 470 aircraft, with the option to add another 370 aircraft. The group has added 40 aircraft last year  and is expecting to take delivery of five aircraft per month for the near to medium term.
Meanwhile, India’s largest airline IndiGo, which has a fleet of about 370 aircraft with more than 980 on order, continues to grow rapidly, despite supply-chain challenges that have fettered growth plans for airlines globally.
This means that the country’s airline fleet of almost 700 aircraft could double by the financial year 2030. It took the Indian industry about 90 years from the time of the first commercial flight to reach a fleet size of 700 aircraft. But the rate of growth is so strong that carriers could add a further 600-700 aircraft in just the next 5-7 years. But, do we have the ecosystem to support this rapid expansion?

 We have a solid and aggressive airline system with the size, scale, aircraft orders and strategic intent to emerge as world-class operators. Air India’s investment of $6.5 billion in its business plan is a reflection of this. IndiGo reported record profitability of approximately $1 billion in FY2024, with another year of unprecedented results expected in FY2025.

Despite there being about 150 aircraft on the ground last year, domestic traffic grew by about 13% in FY2024 and international by 22%.

To support the appetite for travel as well as airline fleet expansion plans, the country also needs a solid airport infrastructure, which for the first time is ahead of demand and there is an investment pipeline of $11 billion at various stages of implementation. In the National Capital Region, we will have a world class airport infrastructure in a dual airport system where Delhi International Airport Limited will grow its capacity from 100 million and reach 130-140 million passengers per annum (PPA), which will be complemented by the greenfield Noida International Airport which is likely to open by April 2025, with eventual capacity for 70 million PPA.  The Mumbai Metropolitan Region will similarly have a dual airport system within almost 12 months, which will eventually be able to handle about 145 million annual passengers. The Adani Group is also significantly expanding capacity at its six PPP non-metro airports of Lucknow, Jaipur Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru and the Airports Authority of India is investing $4 billion to significantly enhance non-metro capacity. Greenfield airports are also planned in Chennai and Pune. 

Policy impetus

As far as policy impetus is concerned, given the rate of growth of the aviation industry in the country skills shortages could arise across the ecosystem, but particularly with respect to technical staff such as pilots and maintenance engineers and technicians. The shortage of pilots is a serious issue and is likely to become more acute, especially in light of the new duty and rest norms laid down by the DGCA for them, which could increase the number of pilots required by about 15%. Similarly, air-traffic controllers as well as security and safety personnel are inadequate relative to requirements. Therefore, the Budget must provide fiscal incentives for investment in skilling, training and education.

Beyond the Budget, the restructuring of Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security will be needed to address challenges emerging from disruption in technology and digitisation as well as environmental issues. Air Navigation Services should also be hived off from the AAI to enable corporatisation of air traffic control allowing for improved access to capital to invest in systems to cope with growing air traffic.

The Budget could also look at rationalising direct and indirect taxes, which today account for nearly 20% of an airline’s quarterly revenue such as through levies by States on aviation turbine fuel. The benefits of airport privatisation have been well demonstrated in the country through access to modern and efficient infrastructure as well as the economic development unleashed for the wider geographical region, and therefore the government must fast track the privatisation of 25 airports planned under the national monetisation plan.

(The writer is Chief Executive Officer and Director at CAPA India)

Tata Group-owned Air India on July 1 said it will set up a training institute at Amravati in Maharashtra with an aim to train 180 commercial pilots annually.

“The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)-licensed Flight Training Organisation (FTO) at the Belora Airport will be the largest such institute in South Asia and become operational from the first quarter of next financial year,” Air India said in a statement.

According to the airline, the upcoming facility will be the first by any Indian airline in the country and will have 31 single-engine aircraft and three twin-engine aircraft for training.

Air India said it has got the tender from the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) to establish and operate the facility for 30 years.

“The FTO at Amravati will be a significant step towards making Indian aviation more self-reliant and offering more opportunities to the youth in India to fulfil their ambitions of flying as pilots. The young pilots coming out of this FTO will fuel Air India’s ambition of becoming a world-class airline, as it moves ahead in its transformation journey,” said Campbell Wilson, Managing Director and CEO at Air India.

“The facility, which will be developed on 10 acres, will have digitally-enabled classrooms, hostels on a par with global academies, a digitised operation centre, and a maintenance unit,” Air India said.

“The FTO will be operational by Q1 FY26 and offer aspiring pilots an opportunity to undergo training with world-class curricula on a par with best-in-class global schools,” said Sunil Bhaskaran, Director, Aviation Academy, Air India.

The collaborative initiative between MADC and Air India will not only boost the economy of Maharashtra by focussing on more than 3,000 new employment opportunities within the aviation sector, but also create employment in multifarious allied activities in skilling, technical and small entrepreneurial ventures culminating in an impressive contribution of more than ₹1,000 crore to the State’s GDP over the next decade,” said Swati Pandey, vice-chairman & Managing Director of MADC.

Representative image.
| Photo Credit: SAMPATH KUMAR GP

Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked airlines to ensure that children up to the age of 12 years are allocated seats with at least one of their parents or guardians in a flight.

The directive comes against the backdrop of instances of children below the age of 12 years were not seated along with their parents or guardians during flights.

“Airlines shall ensure that children up to the age of 12 years are allocated seats with at least one of their parents/guardians, who are travelling on the same PNR and a record of the same shall be maintained,” the DGCA said in a statement on April 23.

In this regard, the regulator has revised the Air Transport Circular titled, ‘unbundle of services and fees by scheduled airlines’.

As per the norms, some services like zero baggage, preferential seating, meals/ snack/ drink charges and charges for carriage of musical instruments are permitted.

The DGCA said that such unbundled services are provided on an “opt-in” basis by airlines and are not mandatory in nature.

“There is also a provision for auto seat assignment to the passengers who have not selected any seat for web check-in before scheduled departure,” the statement said.

India is one of the world’s fastest growing civil aviation markets and domestic air traffic is on the rise.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had notified the revised rules governing duty hours and rest periods for pilots in January 2024. Photo: dgca.gov.in/

The story so far: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has rejected a request by airlines to postpone new pilot duty norms, reiterating that the revised schedule will have to be implemented from June 1. The DGCA had notified the revised rules governing duty hours and rest periods for pilots in January.

What are the new rules?

The new rules provide enhanced weekly rest for pilots which has gone up from 36 hours to 48 hours. The rules have also reduced night-time flying, which is known to contribute to fatigue and impact alertness levels as sleep is displaced from the optimum part of the circadian rhythm.

Earlier, a pilot could carry out six landings during night-time flying, which has now been reduced to two. The night-time shift has been extended by an hour to 6 a.m, from the earlier midnight to 5 a.m. The maximum flight duty period for flights encroaching night-time has also been reduced from 10 hours to eight hours. While pilots have broadly welcomed the changes, their demand for a ban on two consecutive night duties went unheeded. Pilots say that flying a second night without a reset of the circadian rhythm is extremely stressful. Consecutive night duties result in accumulation of sleep debt and an increase in fatigue related impairment. According to IATA’s Fatigue Management Guide for airlines, recovery of waking alertness and performance after accumulating a sleep debt may take longer than two nights of unrestricted sleep.

Pilots also pointed out that airlines are only required to publish the crew roster “sufficiently in advance” and the time frame has not been defined unambiguously. The draft rules placed for stakeholder comments had proposed that rosters be finalised seven days in advance.

The DGCA also wants airlines to submit an analysis of fatigue reports submitted by pilots on a quarterly basis along with an action taken report. It has also said that it plans to adopt a new regime of fatigue management, known as the Fatigue Risk Management System, which is a data-driven approach to enhance monitoring and reporting of flight crew fatigue though pilots are apprehensive that this could reduce existing rest periods prescribed in the rules.

Why are the airlines opposed to it?

The Federation of Indian Airlines, FIA, comprising Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet, wrote to the DGCA in February seeking postponement of the June 1 implementation deadline as it could have “immediate and significant impact to business and customers alike” as airlines would be required to hire “15% to 25% more pilots” when it takes approximately 8-10 months to release a newly inducted pilot for flying. The FIA warned that the June 1 deadline could result in the cancellation of 15%-20% of flights by most airlines as well as cancellation of some long-haul international flights. In response, the DGCA reiterated that it will stick to the June 1 deadline.

A senior DGCA official told The Hindu that by speaking about flight cancellations during the peak summer travel season, airlines were indulging in “scaremongering”. He said that a six-month time frame for implementation was provided keeping in mind that a commercial pilot licence holder, who has completed his training on a specific type of aircraft such as an A320 or Boeing 737 MAX, did not need more than four months to be cleared for flying.

Is fatigue mounting?

In a first, the DGCA has acknowledged that unfortunate instances of pilot deaths in the recent past were “ostensibly” due to punishing schedules and cumulative impact on health and well-being of pilots, which it said was an “urgent wake up call” for the industry. There were at least three such deaths while on duty, including the death of IndiGo pilot, Manoj Balasubramani, who fell unconscious at the boarding gate after reporting for duty to operate a flight from Nagpur to Pune on August 17, 2023. He was rushed to hospital, where he passed away.

Pilots say that not only has flying increased for them in the past five years, a growing route network beyond metros has resulted in tougher combination of flights, which involve more landings and are therefore strenuous. For example, the return leg of an international flight is often combined with an additional domestic flight. There are also more red eye flights to short-haul destinations such as in the Gulf and Singapore. Add to this an uncertainty of roster, where a pilot can be called in for a flight for 4 a.m. with just a 12-hour notice. “Denying a duty in such circumstances can lead to disciplinary proceedings,” said a senior pilot of a full-service carrier. Pilots recall Jet Airways days where a printed roster was sacrosanct. There are also rostering malpractices, where pilots are compelled to work beyond their maximum duty hours or provided less rest periods than what is laid down. On March 22, the DGCA imposed a fine of ₹80 lakh on Air India after it discovered lapses during a spot check in January.

How many pilots are registered with DGCA?

Many airlines like Air India and Vistara are already grappling with pilot shortages compared to aircraft strength. As on December 2023, there were a total of 771 aircraft with various Indian airlines and 9,524 commercial pilots registered with the DGCA. Additionally, there were 67 foreign pilots too due to a shortage of commanders on certain aircraft type such as the Boeing 777. India’s commercial airlines are likely to nearly double fleet size to 1,400 by fiscal year 2029-30, shows CAPA data. This will mean airlines will have to add 10,900 additional pilots by 2030, which is nearly 1,600 new pilots a year. Last year, the regulator issued 1,272 commercial pilot licences.

A pedestrian walks past the Air India building in Mumbai. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on September 21 said it has suspended the approval of Air India’s Flight Safety Chief for one month for certain lapses.

On July 25 and 26, the regulator’s team carried out the surveillance of Air India in the areas of internal audit, accident prevention work and availability of required technical manpower.

The surveillance found deficiencies in the accident prevention work carried out by the organisation and the availability of the requisite technical man power as required in the approved Flight Safety Manual and the relevant Civil Aviation Requirements, the DGCA said in a release.

“The approval of Chief of Flight Safety of Air India has been suspended for a period of one month for the lapses established,” it said.