New Delhi: Several airports under the
Airports Authority of India (AAI) are yet to get their
certification for operations from the Directorate General of
Civil Aviation (DGCA).
In a statement late tonight, Civil Aviation Ministry said
all the airports operated by AAI were built according to the
norms of the International Civil Aviation Organisation and
"there is no compromise from operations point of view."
The Ministry came out with a clarification in the wake of
reports that only eight of the 50 airports in the country had
aerodrome licenses.
The Ministry said the AAI has initiated the process of
obtaining Aerodrome License and "it has so far applied for
issuance of Aerodrome license (new/renewal) for 40 airports,
out of which licenses for some airports have been issued and
others are under process by DGCA."
Giving reasons for the delay in DGCA granting the
certification to the airports, the Ministry said the process
of Aerodrome licensing involves voluminous documentation,
coordination with various internal and external agencies and
validation by the regulatory authorities and was a time
consuming process.
On the need for having aerodrome licenses for airports,
it said, "need was felt with the advent of private airport
operators and a notification was issued by the Civil Aviation
Ministry in 2005 and Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on
"Requirements for issue of an Aerodrome License" was issued by
DGCA in October, 2006.
The report suggested that major airports such Chennai,
Kolkata, Madurai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram were
operating without licenses.
PTI
First Published: Friday, June 25, 2010, 23:57