By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s aviation regulator Friday reviewed the safety and operational performance of all the domestic airlines and asked the carriers to remove deficiencies and properly address passenger concerns.
“The major areas reviewed included the 15-point surveillance, operational issues and the recently conducted audit that included financial matters. We have asked the airlines to address any deficiencies or passenger complaints,” Prashant Sukul, acting head of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said after a meeting with the representatives of the airlines.
“We have decided to meet again in August to review the progress being made on this front.”
Asked about the troubled Kingfisher Airlines, Sukul said the airline had still not completed its financial restructuring which had put stress on the company’s ability to pay its employees.
“They (Kingfisher Airlines) have said that they are trying to complete their financial restructure. But due to some reasons or the other the process is getting delayed. We believe that restructure will provide a lot of relief to the company.”
Friday’s meet was significant as it took place just three days after the controversial exit of E.K. Bharat Bhushan as
director general of civil aviation. There were reports that
Bhushan was shifted out because he wanted to revoke the scheduled airline status of Kingfisher.
Sukul, a joint secretary in the civil aviation ministry, had said Thursday the DGCA was not considering the closure of any airline.
The meeting was attended by chief operating officers of Jet Airways and SpiceJet– Nikos Kardassis and Neil Mills respectively. Representatives of Air India, IndiGo and Go Air also took part.