Private airlines suffering from financial stress

All private Indian airlines are suffering from financial stress as found in financial audits carried out this year by aviation regulator DGCA, Lok Sabha was informed today.
Observing that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had conducted an audit of all airlines on the impact of financial stress on aviation safety, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said, "It has been found that all private airlines are in varying degrees of financial stress."
Replying to a written question, he said the findings of the audit have been discussed with officials of individual carriers.
The airlines were asked to optimise their operations and reduce financial burden without compromising the safety of aircraft operations and take corrective steps to address the issue, the Minister said.

To another question, Sharma said the number of instances of flight diversions due to fog at the Delhi airport has grown from 36 in 2011 to 125 this year.
While the total number of diversions of both Indian and foreign airlines was 36 in December 2011, it rose to 51 in 2012, 72 in 2013 and 125 so far this year.
Of the 125 disruptions this year, 110 occured in January and 15 in February, he said, adding no analysis has been made regarding the losses suffered by airlines due to diversions or congestions at the airports.
Regarding applications received for start of new airlines, Sharma said a total of 19 companies had applied for launch of air services since 2011, four were granted initial No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to operate scheduled services, while nine others were given initial NOCs to launch regional services.