DGCA chief’s flight was delayed, ATC cites rules

New Delhi: A delayed flight will seldom earn air traffic controllers (ATC) a pat on the back from the aviation regulator. But that's what precisely happened on Wednesday morning when an Air India (domestic)'s Delhi- Mumbai flight with DGCA chief Nasim Zaidi on board got delayed by almost an hour.
The airline failed to complete passenger boarding in time to be ready for take off at the scheduled 7am. And acting on a recent regulatory order to make such aircraft lose their slot so that other better prepared planes don't get delayed because of it, IC 657 was asked to wait as penalty for not getting ready on time.
Zaidi, who boarded the AI aircraft much before schedule time, was waiting along with other passengers for the plane to take off as he had to be in Mumbai to attend an important board meeting of the Airports Authority of India.
"I wanted to know why the flight was getting delayed so much and spoke to the ATC. The person on duty told me he was simply following the order under which aircraft that don't have their doors closed in time for the pilot to seek pushback clearance 15 minutes before departure time, lose their slot and are made to wait. The ATC was meticulously following all rules,'' Zaidi told traffic controllers at an event organised by ATC Guild here on Thursday. He was told that IC 765 would take off around 8am.
22/10/10 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Air India Domestic Oct 2010, airports Oct 2010, NACIL Oct 2010