NEW DELHI, July 19:
As per direction issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), non CAT-III compliant aircraft will have to be rescheduled between 1000 hrs and 2000 hrs during the period with low visibility weather forecast, to minimise the inconvenience to traveling passengers and ensure safety of operations, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
In a written reply, Minster of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said, ‘’As per Summer Schedule- 2016 19 cities are connected to Delhi by small aircraft— Surat, Rajkot, Kullu, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Dharamsala, Dehradun, Pant Nagar, Lucknow, Jaipur, Indore, Chandigarh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Varanasi, Udaipur, Jabalpur, Bhubaneswar and Port Blair.’’
With repeal of Air Corporation Act in March 1994, the Indian aviation was totally deregulated. Airlines are free to induct capacity with any aircraft type, free to select whatever markets and network they wish to service and operate. In this regard Government has laid down route dispersal guidelines with a view to achieve better connectivity of air transport services taking into account the need for air transport services of different regions of the country, he added.
However, the Minister said it is up to the airlines to provide air services to specific places depending upon the traffic demand and commercial viability subject to compliance of the route dispersal guidelines.
The direction issued by DGCA on low visibility period operations is effective as on date which also need to be accounted for operation to/from Delhi during winter/fog season. (UNI)