Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued show cause notices to Air India and SpiceJet for failing to ensure that only pilots trained to land aircraft in dense fog are deployed for landings at the Delhi airport during the typical fog season in December.
The operations of the Delhi airport were badly hit between December 24 and December 28 as there was low visibility due to dense fog. Hundreds of flights were delayed in this period, out of which 58 had to be diverted to nearby airports.
“Of these flights, around 50 flights were diverted because pilots were not trained to operate/land in conditions of dense fog,” an airport source said.
Immediately after this disruption, the DGCA initiated its investigation and asked airlines as well as the Delhi airport to provide all requisite details, according to the regulator’s officials.
The DGCA’s investigation revealed that both Air India and SpiceJet failed to roster an adequate number of pilots trained in the CAT-IIIB instrument landing system for landings at the Delhi airport during this fog season. Consequently, several of their flights had to be diverted.
