If pilots strike, AI and KFA can use foreign planes and crew
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If pilots strike, AI and KFA can use foreign planes and crew
New Delhi: If you work for an airline in India and decide to strike work for non-payment of salaries or any other issue, your employer may well learn to fly without you.
In a long-awaited decision, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aviation regulator, has notified a new rule which allows scheduled airlines to go in for ‘wet leases’ of aircraft which can seat up to 70 people. Put simply, this means they can import aircraft (small ones upto ATRs) registered in another country where crew, maintenance and aircraft insurance is provided by the aircraft lessor. In the new Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on leasing of aircraft, DGCA has allowed wet leasing for six months whereas earlier it was only granted for three months, extendable by another three months.
Also, the new CAR takes into account numerous objections raised by the home ministry earlier on security checks needed on foreign crew which would work in India under a wet lease as well as on foreign aircraft. It requires pilots and engineers under wet lease to get security clearance by the home ministry and says that DGCA may stipulate additional requirements considered necessary for safe operation of aircraft in India which must be complied with before the aircraft is imported here.
The CAR mentioned industrial unrest as one of the reasons when DGCA may allow an airline to go in for wet leases. Since crew and other facilities come with the aircraft, an airline may decide that wet leasing is an ideal solution for those periods when it faces industrial unrest – like the recent strike by long-haul pilots of Air India which crippled its international operations, or the ongoing trouble at Kingfisher Airlines, where staff agitation has grounded flights since the first of October.
So will Kingfisher seize this opportunity provided by the DGCA and actually go for wet leasing aircraft to begin skeletal operations?
A senior official in the Ministry of Civil Aviation told Firspost that rules have been relaxed for wet leasing since it would help not only those carriers which face employee unrest but also those who are sick and need to continue operations. Also it would allow airlines to maintain schedules if an aircraft is grounded on technical reasons.
Not just Air India and Kingfisher, but the new rules may also help operators like Deccan Charters. Promoted by Captain GR Gopinath, who pioneered the low-cost airline concept in India, this company was denied permission to wet lease ATRs last year by the then DGCA, EK Bharat Bhushan, who said non-scheduled operators (NSOP) are not permitted to import ATRs (Deccan had filed for permission to operate as an NSOP). Now that Gopinath wants to launch a scheduled airline, the easier wet lease norms could help it get off the ground.
Yet another point the DGCA has clarified in this CAR is about the age of the aircraft – no aircraft older than 15 years would be permitted to be leased into India, the CAR said. This puts at rest a debate over allowing older aircraft, which had arisen when reports emerged about the DGCA considering such a proposal earlier this year
If pilots strike, AI and KFA can use foreign planes and crew | Firstpost
In a long-awaited decision, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aviation regulator, has notified a new rule which allows scheduled airlines to go in for ‘wet leases’ of aircraft which can seat up to 70 people. Put simply, this means they can import aircraft (small ones upto ATRs) registered in another country where crew, maintenance and aircraft insurance is provided by the aircraft lessor. In the new Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on leasing of aircraft, DGCA has allowed wet leasing for six months whereas earlier it was only granted for three months, extendable by another three months.
Also, the new CAR takes into account numerous objections raised by the home ministry earlier on security checks needed on foreign crew which would work in India under a wet lease as well as on foreign aircraft. It requires pilots and engineers under wet lease to get security clearance by the home ministry and says that DGCA may stipulate additional requirements considered necessary for safe operation of aircraft in India which must be complied with before the aircraft is imported here.
The CAR mentioned industrial unrest as one of the reasons when DGCA may allow an airline to go in for wet leases. Since crew and other facilities come with the aircraft, an airline may decide that wet leasing is an ideal solution for those periods when it faces industrial unrest – like the recent strike by long-haul pilots of Air India which crippled its international operations, or the ongoing trouble at Kingfisher Airlines, where staff agitation has grounded flights since the first of October.
So will Kingfisher seize this opportunity provided by the DGCA and actually go for wet leasing aircraft to begin skeletal operations?
A senior official in the Ministry of Civil Aviation told Firspost that rules have been relaxed for wet leasing since it would help not only those carriers which face employee unrest but also those who are sick and need to continue operations. Also it would allow airlines to maintain schedules if an aircraft is grounded on technical reasons.
Not just Air India and Kingfisher, but the new rules may also help operators like Deccan Charters. Promoted by Captain GR Gopinath, who pioneered the low-cost airline concept in India, this company was denied permission to wet lease ATRs last year by the then DGCA, EK Bharat Bhushan, who said non-scheduled operators (NSOP) are not permitted to import ATRs (Deccan had filed for permission to operate as an NSOP). Now that Gopinath wants to launch a scheduled airline, the easier wet lease norms could help it get off the ground.
Yet another point the DGCA has clarified in this CAR is about the age of the aircraft – no aircraft older than 15 years would be permitted to be leased into India, the CAR said. This puts at rest a debate over allowing older aircraft, which had arisen when reports emerged about the DGCA considering such a proposal earlier this year
If pilots strike, AI and KFA can use foreign planes and crew | Firstpost
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This is the draft CAR that the article is referring to
http://dgca.gov.in/misc/draft%20cars...ct%202012).pdf
Comments on para 9.4.3.7 and 9.4.4 of the CAR may be provided. Comments required by 14th November 2012
Please address comments to: Ved Prakash, Deputy Director, Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation, Opp. Safdarjung Airport, Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi – 110 003.
Email: [email protected]
http://dgca.gov.in/misc/draft%20cars...ct%202012).pdf
Comments on para 9.4.3.7 and 9.4.4 of the CAR may be provided. Comments required by 14th November 2012
Please address comments to: Ved Prakash, Deputy Director, Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation, Opp. Safdarjung Airport, Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi – 110 003.
Email: [email protected]
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kingfisher is doubtful, how would they pay for it when they havent even paid for their own aircraft, or crew, or fuel...or...or...or
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So will Kingfisher seize this opportunity provided by the DGCA and actually go for wet leasing aircraft to begin skeletal operations?
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Anyone who would wet-lease to Kingfisher would have to be in equally desperate straits. It won't happen. I'm thinking this is more of a message from the government to the Air India pilots.
A healthy company, however, could use this to start international service while they're procuring aircraft and training their own crews.
A healthy company, however, could use this to start international service while they're procuring aircraft and training their own crews.
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Any airline offering such a wet lease to KFA would require significant advance payment and third party guarantees before it would commit aircraft and crews. Generally wet leasing is much more expensive than in-house operations so is not a likely prospect for Kingfisher.
I think it very unlikely we will see KFA aircraft returning to the skies, other than delivery flights returning them to the lessors!
I think it very unlikely we will see KFA aircraft returning to the skies, other than delivery flights returning them to the lessors!
