New Delhi: India’s aviation safety regulator sprung into action after an airworthiness directive by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) that asked airlines operating Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft to manage the loading conditions on the planes to ensure its centre of gravity remains balanced under certain conditions. This entails reducing weight from the rear of the plane by either not loading the aft portion of the cargo hold or keeping seats in the last rows empty.
India is the biggest customer of the A320neo family of aircraft, with the country’s largest carrier IndiGo alone having ordered 280 A320neo and 150 A321neo planes. Other operators of the aircraft in India are low-cost carrier GoAir, Tata-Singapore Airlines joint-venture Vistara and national carrier Air India.
On the basis of the July 31-directive by the EASA, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducted random inspections of 28 such aircraft at various airports across the country to confirm compliance of the instructions.
“Based on EASA Airworthiness Directive (AD), DGCA issued instructions to all operators of A320/321neo aircraft on the issue of limiting the CG (centre of gravity) envelop to address the loading conditions. The DGCA has carried out random inspections on 28 A320neo family aircraft belonging to all four operators at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru to confirm compliance of the instructions and the same have been found in order. Our checks will continue,” the DGCA said in a statement on Wednesday.
The model is being operated by some of the largest airlines in the world including German carrier Lufthansa, Air China, British Airways, EasyJet, among others. To address the load management issue, some airlines such as Lufthansa and British Airways are reportedly not selling seats in the last two rows on flights being operated on A320neo and A321neo planes. Keeping the aft compartment of the five in the model’s cargo hold could reduce the load carrying capacity of these aircraft by up to 1.5 tonnes, according to aviation experts.
19/09/19 Pranav Mukul/Indian Express
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India is the biggest customer of the A320neo family of aircraft, with the country’s largest carrier IndiGo alone having ordered 280 A320neo and 150 A321neo planes. Other operators of the aircraft in India are low-cost carrier GoAir, Tata-Singapore Airlines joint-venture Vistara and national carrier Air India.
On the basis of the July 31-directive by the EASA, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducted random inspections of 28 such aircraft at various airports across the country to confirm compliance of the instructions.
“Based on EASA Airworthiness Directive (AD), DGCA issued instructions to all operators of A320/321neo aircraft on the issue of limiting the CG (centre of gravity) envelop to address the loading conditions. The DGCA has carried out random inspections on 28 A320neo family aircraft belonging to all four operators at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru to confirm compliance of the instructions and the same have been found in order. Our checks will continue,” the DGCA said in a statement on Wednesday.
The model is being operated by some of the largest airlines in the world including German carrier Lufthansa, Air China, British Airways, EasyJet, among others. To address the load management issue, some airlines such as Lufthansa and British Airways are reportedly not selling seats in the last two rows on flights being operated on A320neo and A321neo planes. Keeping the aft compartment of the five in the model’s cargo hold could reduce the load carrying capacity of these aircraft by up to 1.5 tonnes, according to aviation experts.
19/09/19 Pranav Mukul/Indian Express
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