Airports must meet safety standards, directs DGCA

New Delhi: The aviation regulator has told state governments and defence officials to ensure that airports meet minimum safety standards after a check found gross deficiencies at civilian airports across the country.
The check followed India’s worst air disaster in a decade, when an Air India flight crashed at the Mangalore airport in May, killing 158 passengers and crew.
The state-owned Airports Authority of India runs 53 operational airports, of which 47 are used for scheduled flights. There are another 22 defence airfields with enclaves to handle civil flight operations, of which 20 are being used for scheduled flights.
Some of the defence airports have wrong runway markings, inadequate fire services and friction testing procedures that do not conform to the norms prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao).
Nasim Zaidi, who heads the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), recently met defence authorities in the capital and asked them to make their airports Icao-compliant by December.
30/08/10 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Categories: airports aug 2010, Safety Aug 2010