Directorate General of Civil Aviation seeks details about functioning to assess if the carrier is able to comply with safety procedure.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided to conduct an annual scrutiny of the financial status of airlines, to be able to judge whether they are complying with all safety procedures.
It has sought extensive details from all airlines on an annual basis. The aviation regulator has made it clear that any expansion of fleet and operations, including grant of ‘air operator’s permit ‘ for all airlines shall be subject to mitigation of the potential risk factors identified during the financial surveillance by the operator, to the satisfaction of the DGCA.
The regulator has sought financial details such as instances of sale of assets, deferment of discretionary spending - capital expenditure, training, advertising — and even if an airline has lost valuable suppliers within 12 months.
It also wants a record of every airline’s accident rate per one lakh hours, if there has been any sudden or significant reduction in fleet, if the operator is continuously taking delivery of new aircraft, besides details on training schedules and regularity. DGCA also wants to be apprised if flights are getting delayed due to inadequate crew or due to significant or sudden fleet reduction.
“There is a need to carry out this evaluation to identify airlines in distress — either due to financial issues or operational issues — to ensure that safety oversight functions are not affected and also to pin-point changes in the operating environment conditions, which significantly alter the balance between resources and operations,” director general of civil aviation Nasim Zaidi said in the order.
An official from a low-cost carrier said this practice was being followed informally, and the DGCA has merely formalised it.
However an official from a large airline pointed out that the DGCA wants itself to be seen as an “active” watchdog in the present times where aviation sector is under minute public scrutiny.
“This is more of a populist measure. I don’t think it is practical. For one, safety oversight protocols (SOPs) are already laid down and have to be followed by every airline operating in this country. What DGCA should have done is link back all notifiable and reported accidents (or breach of safety norms) to any significant changes in key financial parameters of airlines”.
The official with the large airline said the DGCA had called a meeting of all airlines in late 2008 when the aviation sector worldwide was in doldrums because of spiraling oil prices and all domestic airlines had resorted to cutting capacities and employee strength. “At that time, the regulator found no correlation between an airline’s financial status and its ability to follow safety procedures,” the official added.
Another airline official said DGCA’s move has perhaps stemmed from the widespread criticism it received after the crash of an Air India Express plane in Mangalore in May.
Curiously, Zaidi’s order also makes it clear that information about airlines could also be sourced from “informal” sources. These are
defined as operators’ meetings or correspondence, conversations with knowledgeable airline personnel, press or industry publications, or any other credible sources.
The order applies to scheduled airlines and those non-scheduled carriers that have a fleet of more than five aircraft.
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