Column Grounded by regulation

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

: Is the country’s civil aviation sector over-regulated? Or managed by a regulator that is shying away from taking tough decisions? A look at some of the rules it came out with recently suggests that the sector needs a far more radical regulator, which looks at more pressing issues than, say, obesity and working hours of the crew.

Take the diktat called “Obesity and Commercial Aircrew” from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which specifies the body mass index and weight of a commercial airplane crew. This circular is symptomatic of the regulator losing focus from the crucial issues.

This document takes pains to describe various scientific methods to decide whether a person is overweight or obese in three pages. “Methods to measure body fat include BMI, Hip Waist Ratio, skin fold thickness, underwater weighing, bioelectrical impedance, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and computerised tomography,” it says. DGCA’s distress over obesity seems a little out of place when the sector is still grappling with issues such as making aviation charges more affordable, allowing FDI and flying abroad without the current curbs.

But it is another circular increasing the flying hours of a pilot that has thrown up the debate over which decisions should be left to the commercial interests of an airline.

The Supreme Court in an interim order last Thursday put on hold a Bombay High Court order that reduced working hours of pilots. The apex court asked pilots to comply with a DGCA circular which specifies that they can operate three flights within nine hours instead of the high court order of two flights in nine hours.

This DGCA regulation will put the job prospects of a large number of pilots at risk, as fewer pilots will be needed overall. The aviation industry has pointed out that there are about 1,000 aspiring pilots in the country, with the required training, who are looking for jobs in airlines. Also, it is likely to increase fatigue levels of crews which may compromise safety.

The aviation regulator, in its defence in court, had said that not only the airlines, travellers too are suffering as a result of the airlines incapability to operate their complete fleet due to shortage of pilots to the extent of over 30%.