 "IndiGo, GoAir, Jet lose Delhi landing slots")
The six slots -- two each of IndiGo, GoAir and Jet Airways -- were withdrawn with immediate effect after an equal number of flights of these airlines were diverted due to fog between Wednesday evening and the wee hours of Thursday.
DGCA’s action follows a meeting with airlines on January 7, where the regulator told the carriers to deploy pilots trained to fly under foggy conditions and fit aircraft with devices to match CAT-III Instrument Landing System (ILS) in Delhi or face severe action. The meeting was held after 53 flights had been diverted out of Delhi to nearby destinations such as Chandigarh and Jaipur due to foggy conditions on January 4 and 5.
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On Wednesday, visibility at the IGI Airport had started dropping after 5:30 pm and the Runway Visual Range started reducing around 8:30 pm. This was brought to the notice of all the airlines. However, in spite of repeated efforts, two flights each of Jet Airways, Go Air and IndiGo were diverted from Delhi to Jaipur, the DGCA said in a statement. It added that by not adhering to DGCA directives, the airlines violated several sections of the Civil Aviation Regulations (CARs), leading to the penal action.
According to DGCA sources, the Airports Authority of India's airport operations control centres had informed that crew or the aircraft of these three airlines were not CAT-III-compliant and, therefore, were diverted to Jaipur. A spokeperson at Jet Airways said: “Jet Airways has been in touch with the DGCA regarding the subject in question. Furthermore, the airline has investigated the matter and has confirmed that the diversions occurred on ATR type of airplane. These aircraft are not cleared to conduct approaches below CAT-I minimums due regulatory restrictions.”
IndiGo did not respond to a questionnaire on the issue.
A GoAir spokesperson said: “Before departure of any flight, the en-route and destination weather is ascertained. The available weather forecast at the time of departure of the two GoAir flights on January 29 from Mumbai and Ahmedabad to Delhi, showed visibility to be within permissible limits. The forecast showed a decline in visibility to CAT-III condition from 4:00 am onwards on January 30. The visibility at Delhi dropped unexpectedly after the departure of our flights, thus necessitating a diversion to Jaipur. GoAir has explained the matter to the DGCA.”
Notably, following the DGCA’s warning earlier this month, the number of diversions at the IGI airport had come down from 53 on January 4-5 to only five the next day and not a single cancellation was reported for a week thereafter. As many as 1,841 flights operated in low visibility conditions in the period.
DGCA had warned the airlines that they would be stopped from operating in and out of Delhi during the fog-season if they did not deploy CAT-III-trained crew to operate flights in and out of the national capital in case CAT-III weather predictions were made by the Met department.
The regulator had fixed the responsibility of the airlines to get the latest weather updates and ensure that CAT-III-trained cockpit crew were deployed accordingly. DGCA Prabhat Kumar also set up a committee headed by joint director-general Lalit Gupta to examine and recommend steps to make Delhi airport "zero diversionary" by December 2014. The 10-member panel, which has been asked to submit its report by March 31, would also prepare a manual to deal with low visibility operations, containing do’s and don'ts for all stakeholders.
The DGCA has also set up a special cell called SUGAM and a dedicated mail ID 'sugam@dgca.nic.In' to enable travellers to lodge their complaint on any problem they face relating to flights or airport facilities due to delays caused by fog or other reasons. The committee has been asked to first acknowledge the complaint electronically and direct the airline or airport operator concerned to address the issues.