Shape up or ship out, pvt airlines told

Following disruption of air services in Delhi and other North Indian cities due to fog, the government today warned private airlines that their flights in and out of these cities next winter will be scrapped if their pilots were not trained to operate under the new landing system.

"We have told them that they should take necessary steps, including training pilots under the instrument landing system CAT III B. If they do not do so, we may consider not to give them flights in and out of Delhi in the next winter schedule," said Ajay Prasad, secretary, ministry of civil aviation, at a press conference in New Delhi today.

The civil aviation secretary held meetings with representatives of all airlines today and conveyed the warning to the carriers, which had pointed out that training pilots at very high costs on CAT III B system for a short period of 2-3 weeks was not commercially viable.

Representatives of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) too attended the meeting.

Last week alone as many as 100 flights connecting Delhi were delayed and many cancelled. Pointing out that only state-run carriers Indian and Air India had CAT III-B enabled pilots, Prasad said if the private carriers were "not ready to operate this instrument landing system in the next one year, then they should not operate flights from Delhi during this period. They should take steps to respond to the situation in larger interests".

He, however, added that it was the commercial judgment of an airline to undertake this cost. Observing that it was not necessary to have the entire pilot strength to be trained on CAT III B, he said the airlines could decide on training only as many pilots as would be required to operate flights out of North Indian airports during this period.

Acknowledging that steps to meet the fog situation as finalised at meetings earlier were not taken by the airlines and other concerned agencies at the airports, Prasad said it would have met the needs of the stranded passengers to a large extent. "There have been faults and we could have done better had been gone by the plans worked out earlier".

Pointing out that only state run carrier Indian operated flights in and out of Delhi during the peak fog period using CAT III B system, Prasad pointed out that the AAI had allotted separate parking bays to Indian for rapid exit and entry for aircraft using the system.

AAI chairman K Ramalingam said the airport operator had got 50 surface movement radar (SMRs), of which 22 were loaded on AAI vehicles and the rest were available for airlines to install them on their vehicles operating inside the airport area.

Elaborating on the steps take to meet the fog-related problems at the Delhi airport, the civil aviation secretary said all airlines had been asked to increase the number of lines of their call centres, update their websites frequently and send SMSs on flight information to passengers, besides putting up more display boards outside the terminal building.

Observing that low-cost carriers had a policy of not providing food or snacks to stranded passengers, he said they have also been asked to provide these facilities to the needy. Besides, additional snack counters would be opened in the terminals including in the security hold areas, along with drinking water and proper toilet facilities.

'All airlines have been asked to deploy senior staff to take on-the-spot decisions to address problems', he said. The AAI would also put in place a temporary shelter outside the private departure terminal here with waiting arrangements for around 400 passengers.