Audit entire aircraft fleet of all carriers: House panel to DGCA

A parliamentary panel on Tuesday asked the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to conduct a safety audit of the entire fleet of domestic airlines, put in place a mechanism to check the erratic surge in air fares, especially after incidents such as the Pahalgam terror attack, and bring about uniformity in user charges levied by airports.

 

The DGCA, in turn, told the committee that it will put in place a mechanism to curb the surge in air ticket prices.

 

Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) met key aviation stakeholders like secretary, ministry of civil aviation, representatives of the DGCA, Airports Authority of India, other airport operators, organisations in the civil aviation sector and airlines on the subject “levy and regulation of fees, tariffs, user charges on public infrastructure and other public utilities.”

 

 

The meeting focused on three issues, namely user fee, surge in air fares and safety.

 

On the surge in air fares, an official said the DGCA will be talking to airlines to have a consensus on developing a mechanism and putting guidelines in place, sources said.

 

 

A Bharatiya Janata Party member shot back wondering if the unfair practice will continue for want of consensus while some other MPs added that the aviation regular has the remit to take action.

 

An MP sought to know from the ministry officials about the time frame for completing the analysis of the aircraft's black boxes, sources added.

 

At the meeting, members urged the DGCA to carry out a comprehensive safety review of all passenger aircrafts of domestic airlines, and termed insufficient the audit only of Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet that the DGCA carried out post the June 12 crash of its Ahmedabad-London flight in which 241 people were killed.

 

The panel members flagged user charges being passed over to passengers, the disparity in user charges being levied on domestic and international passengers, and the variation between user charges that the AAI levies versus those levied by airports that are managed by the private players, such as GMR Airports Limited and Adani Airport Holdings Limited, sources said. They suggested that there should be uniformity in user charges, a revision of these charges and a set formula should be put in place for ascertaining such charges.

 

Members of the Congress Lok Sabha member K C Venugopal-led PAC also asked when the inquiry report of the Ahmedabad air crash was likely to be submitted.

 

Air India Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and managing director Campbell Wilson told the committee his airline will complete retrofitting of its fleet in two years, by 2027, to address frequent complaints about its seats and other facilities, but was facing supply chain issues. He underscored Air India’s commitment to flight safety, sources said.

 

Venugopal told reporters after the meeting that the committee members were all worried about safety issues, with Nationalist Congress Party MP Praful Patel noting that several incidents following the crash were reported and that every passenger wants to feel safe about their journey.