Regulator wants pvt carriers to pool pilots for safety inspections

New Delhi/Mumbai: Faced with a critical shortage of flight safety inspectors who help maintain safety in India’s crowded skies, the country’s civil aviation regulator plans to ask private sector carriers to pool their pilots to carry out the vital tasks, and also bear the cost of these inspections, said an official close to the development.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGCA, currently has only four flight inspectors to ensure safety standards in an industry that has nearly doubled its fleet to more than 600 aircraft in the past three years, as reported by Mint on 21 April.
“The airlines will have to compulsorily provide pilots to the DGCA on a rotation basis and pay for them,” said a government official who did not want to be named. The regulator is working on a draft proposal and will soon formalize it, he added.
“But, DGCA cannot directly take money from airlines for paying inspectors. Instead, they can increase the aircraft registration fee that is collected when an aircraft is imported,” said an executive with a Mumbai-based airline who did not want to be named.
It couldn’t be established what the additional cost could likely be.
04/05/08 Tarun Shukla and P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Safety May 2008