Passengers will be grounded by incomplete technology this year
Manisha Singhal & Megha Chaturvedi
With December 15 being the last day for the private airlines to apply for obtaining clearances for flying under CAT III (100-200m visibility) conditions to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) and with major rescheduling and cancellations, don’t expect your travel plans to run smoothly this winter.
Despite the fact that the DGCA has announced that those airlines having CAT III compliant landing system would be given priority in start up and sequencing of their aircraft and it having cancelled flights of airliners not having the capability to operate in dense fog conditions, most of the private airlines will still fly on a CAT II compliant aircraft this winter. This means that during zero visibility conditions (which occurred last week), passengers will have to spend long hours at the airport or in transit or even face the possibility of the flight being cancelled.
Despite Jet Airways positioning 170 CAT II trained pilots in Delhi and across the network and rescheduling some of its flights (with effect from December 24 till January 15, 2007), it will only be able to fly under CAT III conditions next season. “In the domestic sector we would be able to fly under CAT III conditions only next winter season. As of now we have enough pilots to handle the CAT II situation. We would be looking to upgrade our aircraft for CAT III compatibility,” said Wolfgang Prock Schauer, CEO, Jet Airways.
Aviation expert Naresh Chandra said that “the economics doesn’t work out” for most of the private airlines which have to train the pilot and get an aircraft which is CAT III compliant for just fifteen days of weather conditions, especially since this costs Rs12 lakh per pilot. “In fact, the DGCA’s decision to give priority to CAT III compliant aircraft doesn’t hold much ground because in any case they are few in number. Moreover, there needs to be a regulator who can see that the passengers who are stuck are taken care of by the airlines as well as by the airport staff. There should also be an alternative landing strip near the airport so that the pilot has the flexibility to abort the flight in case of low visibility,” added Chandra.
Private airlines like Kingfisher and GoAir claim to have aircraft that are CAT III compliant in their fleet. A spokesperson from Kingfisher said, “We are the only private airline to have got clearance from the DGCA to fly under CAT III conditions.” GoAir’s official spokesperson also asserted that all seven aircraft of the fleet were updated with the CAT III system. “We have submitted all the documents to the DGCA according to the directives. The training is complete and we are waiting for certification,” added the GoAir representative.
However, DGCA Director General K Gohain rubbished GoAir’s claim. “GoAir have not requested for any CAT III compliance. As far as the pilots are concerned, Kingfisher has 13 CAT III licensed pilots, Air Sahara has 20 CAT II licensed pilots and Spice Jet has 23 CAT II licensed pilots. Nevertheless, the licensing and training is a continuous process and majority of the private airlines are CAT II compliant but they can upgrade to CAT III systems which needs some more engineering work as this particular system needs to have both the pilot and the aircraft component in place,” added Gohain.
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