New York:
India's airlines have a host of problems, according to a report by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation prepared late last month.
The report includes numerous complaints about several airlines. Important highlights are below, and a scan of the report can be
read here.
Alliance Air, a regional arm of Air India:
- Shortage of commanders.
- Shortage of trainee pilots on "ATR type" aircraft, which are regional turbo-prop planes.
JetLite, the low-cost arm of Jet Airways
- "Acute shortage" of operating personnel including pilots and cabin crew.
- Backlog in training.
- No software to monitor when parameters in the digital flight recorder are exceeded. The digital flight data recorder takes hundreds of measurements during every flight and can flag small pilot errors or unusual flying procedures that could turn into larger problems later.
In response to questions about the report, Jet Airways said in a statement:
"At Jet Airways, safety is of paramount importance." The airline's fleet of 101 aircraft is the "youngest fleet in the world," Jet said, and the "operations of our airline are carried out with the highest safety standards." All points in the report "have been clarified and accepted by the safety department of DGCA. Guest safety is of paramount importance at Jet Airways and Jet Lite; and we comply with all requirements laid down by the DGCA," Jet said.
Spicejet- No qualified instructor for the Boeing 737 fleets.
- FOQA counseling procedure "needs a review." FOQA, or flight operations quality assurance, is an internal benchmarking system airlines use to make sure pilots are following correct flying procedure.
Blue Dart, an all-cargo airline based in Chennai.
- No dedicated communication channel for two-way communication with aircraft.
IndiGo
- A large number of "premature engine removals" from Jan. to Oct. 2011, indicating that extended operations or long-haul operations need review.
- Investigation of incidents is "improper," because a large number are closed after a one page report, without approval of the regulator.
- Parameters for internal benchmarks, or FOQAs, are "unrealistic" and "need urgent review."
- Review of airline scheduling systems necessary.
- Shortage of training examiners and instructors.
- Airline fleet's fast growth plan "needs to be reviewed in view of the serious findings in the audit report."
In a long, point-by-point response, Indigo said that it had encouraged the reporting of safety incidents, that it was following Federal Aviation Administration recommendations when it removed engines in question, and that it had overhired pilots and trained them well.
Air India Express, the low-cost arm of Air India
- The chief of operations is "not effective" because corrective action was not taken when pilots violate FOQA parameters, and violations of these parameters increased from 2010 to 2011.
- There is a shortage of pilots, check-pilots, instructors, examiners and cabin crew, and no deputy chief of flight safety.
- FDTL, or Flight and Duty Time Limitations, monitoring, which checks whether pilots and crew are getting adequate rest between flights, is done manually rather than by computer.
Kingfisher Airlines
- Nearly one-third of the fleet is grounded because of the need for spare parts and engines.
- A total of 24 pilots have left in the past two months.
- Most of the employees have not been paid their salary up to 2011.
Jet Airways
- Not enough trainers for regulatory requirements.
- A backlog of pilots and cabin crew who need training.
- International stations were "not audited by the flight safety department for the last two consecutive years."
- Airline has not recruited pilots to cater for the 2011 operational plan.
- Airline canceled one-third of flights because of low passenger loads.
Go Air
- Number of training captains is "very less vis-a-vis the total number of pilots in the company."
- Engineering audits for 2010 have not been carried out as planned.
In response to questions about the report, Go Air said it met with the DGCA Jan. 6th, and "we shared with them our views." The DGCA "fully accepted our position," Go Air said.
"GoAir has always been committed to guarantee high safety standard and will continue to invest all the resources necessary to keep our standards at the highest level."