Aviation safety in focus as parliamentary panel questions airlines

A day-long meeting of a parliamentary committee on safety in the aviation sector is underway here on Wednesday, with members questioning official agencies and private airlines over safety standards being followed by them, an issue brought into sharp focus by the Ahmedabad plane crash last month.

Sources said there was concern among some members over a large number of vacancies in the aviation regulator DGCA, while a few others spoke about the agency not implementing several of the earlier recommendations of the committee.

Several official agencies, including the Airport Authority of India and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), are expected to make presentations before the committee headed by JD(U) MP Sanjay Kumar Jha. 

Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson is among the representatives of airlines who are attending the meeting apart from several other stakeholders.

Many of these officials were part of the seating of another parliamentary committee meeting held on Tuesday.

The DGCA had said on Tuesday it will put in place a mechanism to curb surge in air ticket prices, recently witnessed during the Maha Kumbh and post-Pahalgam terror attack, as the issue coupled with concerns over air safety after the Ahmedabad plane crash dominated proceedings at the Public Accounts Committee.

A London-bound Air India flight crashed into a hostel complex moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 241 on board and several others on the ground.One passenger miraculously survived.