Mumbai: Low-cost carrier IndiGo cancelled at least 60 flights on Saturday over pilot shortage even as Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and ministry of civil aviation were silent. In the past one week, IndiGo cancelled a few hundred flights, forcing thousands to change travel plans.
On Wednesday, IndiGo stated that due to weather problems and temporary runway closures, it would cancel 30 flights per day in February and March. These account for 2% of their operations, it said. On Thursday, IndiGo said the 30 cancellations per day don't include those on account of runway closures. That is, if there were more than 30 cancellations, it was due to runway closures. But such runway closures are planned months in advance, with adequate notice to airlines. On Friday, the airline acknowledged it was facing a pilot shortage.
Capt Mohan Ranganathan, an air safety expert, said, "An airline cannot cancel a scheduled flight like this. They have cancelled scheduled flights for two months, and there is no guarantee this will not continue. Those slots should be released for other operators and the aircraft procurement schedule of IndiGo should be permitted only if they prove that they have adequate crew."
The DGCA norm states that an airline "shall have an adequate setup for crew scheduling and also have a computerised system to maintain their flying record and monitor compliance of flight duty time limitation (FDTL)...'' FDTL is the work/rest rules for pilots as laid down by DGCA.
16/02/19 Times of India
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On Wednesday, IndiGo stated that due to weather problems and temporary runway closures, it would cancel 30 flights per day in February and March. These account for 2% of their operations, it said. On Thursday, IndiGo said the 30 cancellations per day don't include those on account of runway closures. That is, if there were more than 30 cancellations, it was due to runway closures. But such runway closures are planned months in advance, with adequate notice to airlines. On Friday, the airline acknowledged it was facing a pilot shortage.
Capt Mohan Ranganathan, an air safety expert, said, "An airline cannot cancel a scheduled flight like this. They have cancelled scheduled flights for two months, and there is no guarantee this will not continue. Those slots should be released for other operators and the aircraft procurement schedule of IndiGo should be permitted only if they prove that they have adequate crew."
The DGCA norm states that an airline "shall have an adequate setup for crew scheduling and also have a computerised system to maintain their flying record and monitor compliance of flight duty time limitation (FDTL)...'' FDTL is the work/rest rules for pilots as laid down by DGCA.
16/02/19 Times of India
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