Monday, May 14, 2007

In the sky, old is far from gold

New Delhi: Security and safety issues with regard to the age of an aircraft have come to the forefront following consecutive emergency landings of two Air India flights on a single day in April. According to the civil aviation ministry, at present, around 300 aircraft operate in the country, of which about 123 are over 20 years old.
Of these 123 aircraft, 38 are registered with public sector operators and 85 with private operators. The global average for aircraft fleet age is 180 months or 15 years.
The average age of an Air India fleet is 16.23 years. But this figures poorly when compared with other global aviation leaders. Emirates, which has one of the best industry averages, has a fleet age of 5.1 years, while Singapore Airlines and Jet Airways have an average fleet age of 6.25 years and 5.3 years, respectively.
However, the ministry says that the rules and guidelines ensure that the aircraft are airworthy and safe. The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has issued special guidelines for such aged aircraft for strict compliance by operators. Also, the certificate of airworthiness for aircraft beyond 20 years has to be renewed every year instead of every five years for aircraft up to 10 years old.
14/05/07 Atreyee Dev Roy/Financial Express
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