DGCA Report blunder compounds India’s airline industry problems

In light of the financial difficulties being experienced in the Indian aviation sector, industry regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), recently commissioned an audit of the nation's carriers to assess whether safety was being compromised. (A similar initiative was undertaken in 2008 at the time of the fuel price spike but nothing emerged from that.) The clumsy handling of the contents of the Dec-2011 report has only served to aggravate an already critical situation for the aviation industry.

Aviation safety-related matters are extremely sensitive, given the public concern - and the resulting commercial impact on airlines. In this case, the findings of the audit should have been handled in one of two ways: (1) If there were areas of concern requiring rectification, but not posing an immediate safety risk, the regulator should have issued private notices to each of the airlines concerned to seek clarifications and to demand a clear, time-bound plan to remedy any shortcomings, with appropriate action should the airline fail to do so; or (2) if the audit findings indicated an imminent risk to public safety the airlines concerned should have been grounded immediately.