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Parl committee summons civil aviation secy
This comes after an Air India flight on June 12 crashed moments after take- off from Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 of the 242 people on board.
New Delhi: The Parliament committee on transport, tourism and culture has summoned civil aviation secretary Samir Kumar Sinha to appear before the committee on July 8 to discuss issues regarding safety concerns in the aviation sector, two officials aware of the development said on Friday.
“The committee met on June 23 to discuss air congestion and related issues. It was then decided to have a detailed discussion regarding safety concerns in Indian aviation,” one of the officials said.
This comes after the Gatwick bound Air India flight, formerly AI 171, on June 12, crashed moments after take- off from Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 of the 242 people on board. While the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is investigating the matter, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered additional and mandatory checks to be performed on all B787 aircraft of Air India.
“The civil aviation secretary has been summoned by the committee with an aim to have detailed discussion on various aspects of aviation safety,” another official said.
“Airlines along with the DGCA and AAI (Airports Authority of India) may also be summoned. A decision on this is likely to be taken soon,” the official added.
HT reached out to the civil aviation ministry (MoCA) but did not get its response till the time of going to print.
Meanwhile, Air India, which has 33 B787 aircraft in its fleet, has completed the mandatory checks (as instructed by the DGCA) on 28 of them. The airline has also been conducting additional checks on their wide-body aircraft and hence is operating with 15% reduced capacity. It is also operating with nearly five percent reduced capacity of narrow-body aircraft.
Narrow body aircraft are used for long haul flights (like A320 and B737 aircraft) whereas wide-body aircraft like B787 and B777s are large aircraft which are used to operate Europe and US flights.
While the reason behind the cause of the B787 registered as VT ANB, remains unknown, the AAIB has begun analysing its black box in its lab in Delhi. The government, as per rules, needs to submit the final accident report within a year.
