New Delhi : The steps taken by the Government to reduce incidents/accidents in the aviation sector inter alia include:
(i) There is a systematic safety oversight process in place for monitoring the compliance of Rules and Civil Aviation Requirements. The safety oversight process includes surveillances, spot check and regulatory audits. In addition special audits are also carried out as per the risk perceived.;
(ii) Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducts surveillance/spot checks as per the Annual Surveillance Plan (ASP). Findings of audits, surveillances & spot checks are followed up with the concerned operator for compliance. The observations are closed after due verification. The compliance of the action taken by the operator is verified during the next audit/surveillance.
(iii) Accident/incident data is regularly analyzed and based on the analysis, guidance in the form of advisory Circulars are issued to bring important observations/findings to the notice of the operators to avoid the recurrence of the accidents/incidents.
(iv) In case of any violations/ non-compliance to regulations detected during audit/surveillance, enforcement action including financial penalty is imposed by the DGCA.
(v) Safety recommendations emanating from the investigation reports are followed up for implementation with the concerned agencies so as to prevent recurrence of similar incident in future.
(vi) Spot checks and surveillance have been increased and during the period of 02.05.2022 to 13.07.2022, as a special drive 353 spot checks were undertaken by DGCA.
(vii) DGCA also issued an interim order to M/s Spicejet on 27.07.2022, wherein for the continued sustenance of safe and reliable air transport service, the number of departures of M/s Spicejet have been restricted to 50% of the number of departures approved under summer schedule 2022 for a period of 8 weeks.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) carries out assessment of impact of financial stress on safety of operations as per the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) Section 3, Series S, Part-I on “Evaluation of Air Carrier’s Management of Significant changes – Assessment of Impact of Financial Stress on Safety of Operations” on yearly basis. Information for the Financial Year (FY) 2021-22 is due by 31.12.2022. On the basis of information for the last 5 years (upto FY 2020-21) submitted by airlines, year-wise and airline wise financial data including revenue, expenses and net-profit/ loss, it can be inferred that:
(i) All the airlines seem to have a stable financial condition criteria.
(ii) The Growth Criteria for all airlines seems satisfactory.
However, based on the assessment of the data submitted by airlines, increase in surveillance was initiated against M/s Jet Airways in the year 2019 and against M/s SpiceJet in the year 2021. Further, based on the review of reported incidents on aircraft operated by M/s SpiceJet from 01st April to 5th June 2022, wherein it was observed inter-alia that aircraft turned back, continued landing to destination with degraded safety margins, the DGCA has also issued an interim order to M/s SpiceJet on 27.07.2022, wherein for the continued sustenance of safe and reliable air transport service, the number of departures of M/s SpiceJet have been restricted to 50% of the number of departures approved under summer schedule 2022 for a period of 8 weeks from the date of issue.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the flight operations were completely suspended in the year 2020 and were resumed with restrictions in mid-2020. However, all the airlines continued to comply with the required safety standards during the period.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen. (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd) in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
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