NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has firmed up guidelines that make it mandatory for Indian carriers to fly with at least 1.5 times more fuel than is required during a flight. This comes amidst fears of being downgraded over safety concerns again with growing incidents of pilots making a distress call for priority landing citing low fuel.
On November 30, an IndiGo Patna-Kolkata flight carrying West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC leader Mukul Roy fell short of fuel as it circled over Kolkata airport for half an hour.
Indian carriers follow the standard practice of carrying a little over the required level of fuel to accommodate more cargo, passengers and generate additional revenue. But this is putting the lives of passengers in danger and triggering stringent laws in this regard.
In January 2014, US Federal Aviation Administration (USFAA) downgraded India’s civil aviation sector citing safety oversight. It was withdrawn in March 2015.
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a global body of airlines, will visit India in March 2017 to ascertain safety preparedness. The DGCA is in the process of amending the age-old Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), the rules for civil aviation operations in India.
Despite concerns by airlines, the DGCA is convinced that carriers must fly with at least 1.5 times the fuel than is required during a flight as per international norms.
While narrow-bodied planes such as Airbus A320 or Boeing 737, which have 180 seats, use 11-13 litres of fuel per km of flight, wide-bodied ones such as Airbus A380 or Boeing 787 Dreamliners, with over 430 seats, consume 16-18 litres of fuel per km.
In October 2015, a Jet Airways plane made a ‘blind’ landing at Thiruvananthapuram airport on its seventh attempt. By the time it touched down on the tarmac, the plane had just 349 kg of fuel left.
In April 2014, DGCA’s recommendation that fuel emergency will not be recognised at Indian airports to make an emergency landing was junked by the government.