DGCA cracks whip: Kolkata airport penalised Rs 20 lakh for lapses in runway maintenance; Star Air fined Rs 5 lakh

NEW DELHI: Empowered to levy fines last summer, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has begun penalising airlines and airport operators for non-compliance of mandatory safety standards. It has fined Kolkata Airport Rs 20 lakh — the steepest penalty imposed to date by the regulator — for lapses like improper maintenance of runway. And Bengaluru-based Star Air has been fined Rs 5 lakh for violating safety norms like an aircraft panel not being closed properly before departure and then falling off during landing.
“An audit was done of NSCBIA some months back. Non-violation of norms were observed in some areas, mainly improper maintenance of runway, electrical lighting, foreign object debris programme. After the lapses were found, a showcase notice was issued to the airport operator as action can be taken only after seeking comments from the agency concerned,” said people in the know. After examining comments from Kolkata Airport operator, the DGCA decide to levy a fine of Rs 20 lakh.
Similarly, DGCA had audited Star Air last November that revealed some non-compliances. These included deficiencies in flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) monitoring and airline utilising trainers and examiners of a foreign approved training organisation beyond the period of approval given by DGCA.
“Star Air doesn’t have a documented procedure in respect of system to handle passenger carrying dangerous goods that are not permitted to be carried on-board aircraft. An aircraft panel was not closed properly before departure and fell off at the time of landing. However, it was projected as rivet failure,” the audit findings of Star Air say. Following this, DGCA imposed a penalty of Rs five lakh on the airline under Rule 162 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937.
Comments were sought from Airports Authority of India, which operates Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (NSCBIA), and awaited till the time of going to press.
A Star Air spokesperson said: “All the non compliances are minor. On a grade of severity level from 1 to 10, DGCA has judged them as Level 3. Further, Star Air does not agree with the issued non compliances and will be exercising our right to appeal against the same.”
The provisions of levying fines were added by a special section introduced in the Aircraft Act in September 2020. Subsequently, last May an enabling provision was introduced to provide for levying financial penalty against service providers for violation of regulations/requirement. The fine imposed on NSCBIA is the highest so far.
This is the second string of action by DGCA under its new powers to impose fines. Last October two flying training organisations (FTO), including government-run Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, were penalised Rs 75,000 each for norm violations. So till now an airline, airport operator and two FTOs have been fined.