No major safety issue in Kingfisher, says DGCA

Kingfisher Airlines has got a reprieve with the country's aviation regulator saying there were no "major safety concerns'' in that airline. Under high debt burden and mounting losses the airline has been forced to cut down on operations. The airline has defaulted  on payments to banks, vendors and employees.

Speaking to media persons at a sideline of an industry event in Mumbai on Tuesday Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra said the airline's financial condition was a matter of concern but there was no safety concern regarding Kingfisher. Asked about Kingfisher's inability to maintain regular schedules, Mishra said they will examine the issue while approving the airline's winter schedule.

 

Meanwhile, the DGCA is  expected  to complete the second safety audit of all airlines by next month. The last such audit was conducted in November, 2011 to ascertain the impact on safety on account of bad financial health of the airlines.

“We started with Kingfisher Airlines and Air India Express first because of the staff shortage that held us from doing an audit of all of them in one go. We have to complete the audit of all other airlines by October,”  a senior DGCA official was quoted in a recent media report.