Page 31 - AAA MARCH - APRIL 2014 Online Magazine

FEATURE HOPE AMID GLOOME

Beechcraft King Air C90GTx
interior

till DGCA acted on an inspection report by
the ICAO.
About 125 Indian aviation firms that
have business and charter aircraft cannot
fly their airplanes until they submit a
readiness plan. Estimates say 44 of these
operators fly overseas.
“Whenever they are prepared, they
will come to us. We will do a structured
evaluation...Only then we will clear it, after
a check of all their operations ground up,”
the official asserts.
Officials from the UN aviation
watchdog, which had clubbed India
among 13 nations with the worst record
for air safety oversight, were in India
last August for a compliance audit of the
Indian aviation regulator. The DGCA has
given the ICAO a corrective action plan
that it intended to implement shortly, says
the ministry official.

Safety Record
Most of the small business aircraft don’t have
certain automated navigation equipment as
mandated by international airports to lower
emissions and ease congestion.
Following rising concerns about
whether Indian operators adhere to
international safety norms, Singapore,
Hong Kong and Bali have already banned
Indian private chartered carriers from
landing in their airports.
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