Air taxi operations fail to start in Madhya Pradesh

The air taxi operations in Madhya Pradesh couldn’t commence on Sunday as directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) is yet to give certificate of air worthiness to Supreme Aviation, which bagged the contract for the operations in the state.

Published on: Sep 28, 2015, 18:26:23 IST

Hindustan Times | By Neeraj Santoshi, Bhopal

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The air taxi operations in Madhya Pradesh couldn’t commence on Sunday as directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) is yet to give certificate of air worthiness to Supreme Aviation, which bagged the contract for the operations in the state.

Supreme Aviation had announced over a month back that air taxi operations in Madhya Pradesh will start from September 27, the world tourism day.

Speaking to HT over phone, Supreme Aviation president and chief executive officer (CEO) Ameet K Agarwal said that they had to cancel their plan as DGCA didn’t give the certificate of air worthiness for their nine-seater Cessna aircraft which is stationed at Indore for a month and a half.

“Though we have submitted all the documents, the delay on the part of DGCA is because they don’t have enough manpower because of which there is delay in checking the fitness of the plane”, he claimed.

“We are expecting that we will get the certificate within a fortnight, following which we will immediately start air tax operation in the state. We have already conveyed to the tourism department out technically difficulty in starting the operations from World Tourism Day”, he said.

Agarwal added that once they get the certificate of air worthiness, the two nine-seater Cessna aircrafts will operate between eight cities in MP and three cities outside MP.

Earlier this year the Supreme Aviation had bagged the contract for air taxi operations in the state for three years which could be extended upto five years. The previous contract holder Air Ventura’s term expired in 2014.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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