Air charter operators must comply before permission to fly abroad: DGCA

Operators may have to hire personnel in air safety and air worthiness in order to secure compliance

Non-scheduled operators (charter flights) will have to fulfil operational requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) before they can be granted a clearance to fly abroad, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Monday. To secure compliance with ICAO, operators might have to hire personnel in air safety and air worthiness.

“We will fast-track the process and are creating special teams to coordinate with these companies. There are 8-10 companies, which are close to fulfilling the requirements,” Director-General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra told Business Standard.

According to sources in the know, only about a third of non-scheduled operators are close to complying with the requirements laid down by ICAO to pursue air service operations. The requirements laid down by ICAO pertain to the technical capabilities of an aircraft, training of personnel and documentation.

Mishra added, “It will be a phase-wise programme. The requirements for flying international are more stringent and it will be gradually covered for pure domestic operators, too.”

Rohit Kapur, president, Business Aviation Operators Association, said: “On the new safety and regulatory structure proposed by DGCA, we would request the authorities to put in place a defined timeline for implementing the new set of regulations. To ensure the new rules are put into practice at the earliest, we urge the DGCA to set up a sub group that will help expedite the process. The private operators will ensure adherence to the new set of approvals for all international commercial flights to improve the safety standards of Indian aviation.”

In a circular last week, DGCA barred non-scheduled operators (charter flights) from flying abroad till the operators receive specific clearance in their permits for overseas operations.

DGCA’s action comes in the wake of the ICAO audit, which found lacunae in the regulator’s oversight in general aviation and after it was found that some Indian charter flights were flying abroad without confirming to certain operational procedures. A few countries in south-east Asia refused to let Indian charters to land in their airports in view of the ICAO observations.

“No air operator permit holder (non scheduled) shall undertake international operations unless the holder is specifically certified to undertake international operations and the same has been endorsed on the operations specifications of the air operator permit,'' Arun Mishra had said in a circular issued on Thursday.

“It is like virtually grounding the entire charter fleet from carrying out international flights,'' an aviation source remarked.

DGCA began issuing air operator permits two years ago, with a new format in line with other countries. The source said the operations specifications which list the technical capabilities of the aircraft, too, was included as a part of operators’ permit in the new format. While several operators are trained and are compliant on technical procedures, none of the non-scheduled operators has an endorsement for the same. The permit also does not have an endorsement for international operations and the regular practice for DGCA was to issue a one-time clearance for foreign flights without carrying out checks.