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Referring to the Indigo incident, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Civil Aviation Minister, said in a rather firm tone that incidents like those that happened a day ago are “not acceptable”. Addressing mediapersons on Day 1 of Wings India 2024, he said “what happened yesterday (IndiGo) I have no qualms in acknowledging is sad and is not acceptable”.
Scindia was responding to a question on how he will ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future. Taking the question, the Minister said: “We need to understand that our ecosystem is working very diligently and taking care of everything. Aviation is a sector which had constantly evolved. Vagaries of nature we have no control on, and if base station (in this case Delhi) gets affected, it creates a viciouscycle.”
“Safety and security of our citizens is primary a nd that is why beyond the stroke of midnight, a ministerial meeting was held and action was taken,” he said.
On the measures, he said: “We have issued two separate SOPs — airline and airport separately. And if events like this happen, SOP willbe issued which would have to be followed.”
fines imposed
On Wednesday, the country’s aviation safety and security regulators imposed fines totalling ₹3 crore in a crackdown on airlines and airports after multiple violations. The airlines were IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India, and Mumbai airport.
The incident happened because of fog-related disruption, which resulted in hundreds of delayed flights and stranded passengers.
IndiGo and Mumbai airport have been fined for safety and security violations for letting passengers of a diverted flight from Goa sit on the tarmac on January 16.
We are on target to double our market. By the next month or two, many facilities will be ready and awaiting inauguration. Along with this growth of airports, there is also a growth of our airlines, he said.
Talking about the positive developments of the day, he said thatas far as our ecosystem is concerned, change in policies have worked. Stating that it was about time India sets its own international hub, the Minister said a conducive environment has been created by taking several policy measures.
On the contentious issue of State taxes on ATF, the Minister said: “I have to acknowledge the 19 states/ UTs which have responded to our call and brought down VAT. Only five states are yet to bring down the tax.”
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