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Aviation safety in focus at parliamentary panel meeting

Aviation safety in focus at parliamentary panel meeting

The Hindu09-07-2025
A day-long meeting of a parliamentary committee on safety in the aviation sector is underway in New Delhi on Wednesday (July 9, 2025), with members questioning official agencies and private airlines over safety standards being followed by them, an issue brought into sharp focus by the Ahmedabad plane crash last month.
Sources said there was concern among some members over a large number of vacancies in the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), while a few others spoke about the agency not implementing several of the earlier recommendations of the committee.
Several official agencies, including the Airport Authority of India and the DGCA, are expected to make presentations before the committee headed by JD(U) MP Sanjay Kumar Jha.
Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson is among the representatives of airlines who are attending the meeting apart from several other stakeholders.
Many of these officials were part of the seating of another parliamentary committee meeting held on Tuesday (July 8, 2025).
Also read: DGCA finds multiple violations related to airlines, airports, aircraft maintenance works
The DGCA had said on Tuesday (July 8, 2025) it will put in place a mechanism to curb the surge in air ticket prices recently witnessed during the Maha Kumbh and post-Pahalgam terror attack, as the issue, coupled with concerns over air safety after the Ahmedabad plane crash, dominated proceedings at the Public Accounts Committee.
A London-bound Air India flight crashed into a hostel complex moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 241 on board and several others on the ground.
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