Arun Kumar, Director General Civil Aviation said the next International Civil Aviation audit will to take place soon. He said that they had three meeting with engine manufacturer, Pratt and Whitney on Wednesday. The DGCA also issued a statement, saying that it is safe to travel on the New Engine Option (neo) Airbus 320 (A320neo).

"If at any moment we feel the aircraft is not safe, we will ground the aircraft," Arun Kumar stated.

He added that the shutting down of Jet Airways' operations did not impact the decision of the DGCA to allow Airbus 320neo to be utilised with a variety of the Pratt and Whitney engine.

Arun Kumar also said that the Boeing MAX should be certified by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in the United States (US). The aircraft has been banned globally since early 2019.

6 per cent rise in the number of aircraft

Civil Aviation Secretary, P S Kharola, said that India has 600 aircraft that are flying with different domestic airlines.

He said that this is approximately 6 per cent more than the number of aircraft operating in 2018.

Addressing a media workshop, Kharola said that with Jet Airways temporarily stopping operations in April this year which saw almost 110 aircraft got grounded from about 500 aircraft which India had.

"Now we have 600 aircraft as against 570 aircraft at this time last year," he said.

He also stated that the grounded aircraft of Jet Airways are now flying with other domestic airlines.

The workshop also included a presentation by Anuj Aggarwal, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman. He spoke of the use of integrated smart technology in civil aviation and had elaborated on 'mitra', the autonomous humanoid. 'Mitra' was introduced at the Chennai International Airport earlier this month.

Air India's healthy operating profit

Ashwani Lohani Chairman and Managing Director of Air India, said that the airline likely to report healthy operating profit this year. He said that the operating loss in the first four months of FY20 is Rs170 crore as against Rs 802 crore, that was incurred during the first four months of FY19.

Air India will definitely require funds from government, Lohani said but declined to get into how much is being sought.

He said the disinvestment of Air India should take place, adding that the debt of the airline in the region of Rs 58,000 to Rs 60,000 crore.

Air India said that it is going to ban the use plastic from October 2. This will be done in two phase. In the first phase, the company will implement the policy in all flights of Air India Express and Alliance Air, while the second phase would see its implementation in all Air India flights.

The steps taken include packing banana chips and sandwiches in butter paper pouches, replacing cake slices with muffins (to avoid the plastic wrapping), using birch wood cutlery while serving pre-booked special meals, as well as the use of paper tumblers and sturdy paper cups\

Centre should not be part of airline business

Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri, said that Government should not be in the business of running an airline.

"Governance determination to privatise is a given and is undiluted" the Minister said.

He explained that the first meeting of the Administrative Mechanism, looking at the Divestment of Air India, will hold its meeting soon. "It should be totally privatised," he said adding that people were interested in buying Air India.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW