Flying without airport licence

It has come to light that despite much back and forth of letters between Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) following lapse of Juhu aerodrome’s licence on February 7, 2016, the airport is yet to receive licence.

The DGCA wrote letters to Juhu airport about providing the wrong documents for licence process and even inquired with Juhu for not filing the reply on time. In one particular letter dated May 3, a copy of which is with this newspaper, DGCA director of operations wrote to AAI chairman stating that licence of the aerodrome had lapsed on February 7, 2016, and ever since, no correspondence had been received from AAI. Similarly, in another letter written on the subject on April 4 this year, it was clarified that the documents submitted to the regulator were not satisfactory.

DGCA sources said that when Juhu authorities were supposed to get a renewed license, they sent an aerodrome manual but a few discrepancies were found in the updated manual like records were not updated and so on. “Such blunders are unacceptable coming from a prestigious organisation like AAI,” said a third letter in the context of the Juhu aerodrome manual. Commenting on the scenario, a highly placed AAI official said, “This is like driving a heavy vehicle without driving licence; if anything happens, the government will be put to shame.”

When contacted, DGCA chief, M. Satyavathy refused to comment on the issue saying she was not aware of it. While a top official of Juhu on condition of anonymity said, “When one has to get a new licence, it’s a big deal but as we are already operating it, getting one is not a problem and our correspondence is on. Soon, we will get it also.” Meanwhile, a source from Juhu airport informed this newspaper that Juhu airport also wrote a letter to its headquarters (The Asian Age has access to the same) about the apron area and parking issues. Sources said Juhu aerodrome is on its way to getting a few new facilities and then again, a fresh application will be sent to add to the list of facilities in the licence.

AAI sources said that they first forwarded an application to renew the licence on January 18 but DGCA required more details and communicated the same to AAI on February 5.

The licence lapsed on February 7. While giving a reason for it, the regulator had mentioned that three out of eight civil aviation requirements were not provided. “It is really shocking that the Juhu aerodrome is operating without licence,” said a DGCA official.