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DGCA steps in to ease passengers' fog woes

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Ajai Shukla New Delhi
Last Updated : Feb 05 2013 | 12:21 AM IST
With airlines under fire for poor passenger management during fog delays at the Delhi airport, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued guidelines to minimise the harassment to the passengers.
 
The DGCA, at a meeting with senior representatives of all scheduled airlines, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) yesterday, stipulated measures to be followed when fog upsets flight schedules.
 
This followed a last week's letter in which the DGCA had pulled up airlines for not manning flights to Delhi with pilots trained to fly in heavy fog conditions.
 
Senior DGCA sources said most pilots were reluctant to fly to and from Delhi, choosing instead to fly to foreign destinations because of the lucrative allowances on offer.
 
A DGCA letter, issued on Tuesday to all airlines, DIAL and AAI, lays down the following measures in the event of delays due to fog:
 
"� Air Traffic Control (ATC), Delhi, shall update on an hourly basis its Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad counterparts about fog and traffic conditions to enable airlines to plan flights to Delhi.
 
"� Flights to Delhi that are diverted to nearby airports will get priority on their return to Delhi.
 
"� All airlines shall post a senior officer round the clock with the Delhi airport for helping passengers and for coordination with the ATC.
 
"� Airlines will monitor the fog outlook issued by the Indira Gandhi International Airport's meteorological department
 
The Director General of Civil Aviation, Kanu Gohain, explaining why a regulatory body like the DGCA was passing instructions on passenger-related issues said, "While the DGCA mainly focuses on regulating aviation at the macro level, it is also important to ensure that passengers are not put to more inconvenience than the fog necessitates."
 
The letter lays down the following instructions for passenger convenience:
 
"� Airlines will provide the airport with hourly updates of the status of each flight to and from Delhi.
 
"� Airlines will announce security checks and boarding instructions for flights in a manner that prevents crowding of the security cleared areas. Passengers will only be made to proceed for security check once their flights are ready to depart.
 
"� Airlines will have to ensure help to passengers whose flights are delayed/cancelled. Adequate staff has to be ensured for this.
 
"� Frequent announcements will be made on flight status through the DIAL public address system.
 
"� DIAL will give out regular press updates on the status of fog and aircraft movement.
 
Scheduled airlines confirmed having received the letter. DGCA officials said this was as far as they could go in regulating passenger-related issues.
 
In case airlines failed to adhere to these guidelines, passengers would have no recourse but to take their complaints to consumer courts, they said.

 
 

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