Airlines violating Goa directive face DGCA action

With certain navigational aids at the Goa airport being switched off for certain periods due to repairs, aviation regulator DGCA on Monday initiated action against four airlines for operating flights despite being asked not to do so at those times.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had issued a notice to airmen about a week ago advising all airlines not to operate flights during certain hours in a day when the ground-based radar system precision approach path indicator (PAPI) was non-functional due to repairs. “Despite our warnings to respect the curfew hours, some airlines have violated this directive. They will have to pay for it. We will take action,” DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan said.

Official sources later said the DGCA was in the process of sending notices to Kingfisher, GoAir, JetLite and Jet Airways for having operated flights during these periods — from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm till 7:00 pm.

Bhushan said, he had a meeting with the chiefs of operations of all airlines and told them “these curfew hours should be respected entirely. I had also warned them that in case of any violation, we will come down heavily on the operators as well as the flying crew”. The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), one of the two Air India pilots’ unions, has also asked its members not to operate flights to Goa during those periods when they would have to carry out “blind landings” or landings without navigational aids.