NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued show cause notice to Air India and SpiceJet for not ensuring that only pilots trained to land in Delhi’s dense fog operated flights in the past few days during low visibility hours, leading to a large number of diversions. “The two airlines have to respond within 14 days. The notice is for rostering non CAT III compliant pilots,” said a senior DGCA official.
Officials in Delhi Airport, which currently has only one CAT III compliant runway, had said 58 IGIA-bound flights were diverted between the midnights of December 24-25 and 27-28. “Of these, 50 flights diverted (see list) because their captains were not trained to operate in low visibility conditions,” airport sources had said.
Subsequently the DGCA had verified this with data from airlines and air traffic control (ATC). After investigating, the regulator has issued notice to AI and SpiceJet.
The action comes just when low visibility and dense fog have again enveloped north India and could ensure airlines don’t repeat the December 24-28 episode of not ensuring CAT III compliant pilots on flights to Delhi during low visibility hours. This, and Delhi Airport making the main runway available for CAT III landings, could .minimise flight disruption to the extent humanely possible during fog.
Officials in Delhi Airport, which currently has only one CAT III compliant runway, had said 58 IGIA-bound flights were diverted between the midnights of December 24-25 and 27-28. “Of these, 50 flights diverted (see list) because their captains were not trained to operate in low visibility conditions,” airport sources had said.
Subsequently the DGCA had verified this with data from airlines and air traffic control (ATC). After investigating, the regulator has issued notice to AI and SpiceJet.
The action comes just when low visibility and dense fog have again enveloped north India and could ensure airlines don’t repeat the December 24-28 episode of not ensuring CAT III compliant pilots on flights to Delhi during low visibility hours. This, and Delhi Airport making the main runway available for CAT III landings, could .minimise flight disruption to the extent humanely possible during fog.