The domestic airline industry has been given a clean chit by the newly appointed Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, Mr Prashant Sukul. “No airline is being considered for closure due to non-compliance of safety violations till May 25 this year. This includes Kingfisher Airlines,” Mr Sukul told newspersons on Thursday.

A statement issued by the DGCA states that financial surveillance from the safety perspective of all airlines was conducted from November 2011 to January 2012. It adds that based on the “satisfactory compliance shown by the domestic airlines” letters were issued to all airlines on May 25 closing all their short-term findings.

The statement comes almost 48 hours after the former DGCA, Mr E.K. Bharat Bhushan, is believed to have made a noting on the file asking Kingfisher Airline to either pay back wages of the past five months within the next 15 days or face closure.

The new DG, however, claimed that no such note existed. Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officers of all domestic airlines have been called to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Friday for a meeting on safety and operational issues. Officials claimed that the meeting was a routine affair.