DGCA raps AI for cancelling flights

Kochi: The director general of civil aviation (DGCA) has rapped airlines, particularly Air India and its low-cost carrier Air India Express, for cancelling some of the regular flights to meet the new CAR guidelines that addressed the issue of pilot fatigue.
“The new guidelines were actually the recommendations of an expert committee, which had gone into the international practices and the factors leading to mishaps. We got the report a year and a half ago, and immediately asked the airlines to prepare for the change.
Now it’s the airlines’ fault if they cancel flights to comply with the set of guidelines that’s coming into effect from Feb. 15. They had been given sufficient time,” DGCA official E.K. Bharat Bhushan told Deccan Chronicle.
The airlines should have recruited enough pilots to comply with the guidelines than opting for the easy way out — of curtailing and cancelling flights. National carrier Air India itself could not operate at least six of the flights due to pilot shortage, he said.
06/02/12 Krishna Kumar K.E./Deccan Chronicle

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Categories: Air India Feb 2012, Indian Aviation- In General Feb 2012