By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu ordered a safety audit of all scheduled airlines and airports after several incidents related to the safety of air-passengers.
On Thursday, several passengers of a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai to Jaipur suffered nose bleeding and ear pain after the crew forgot to turn on a switch that controls cabin air pressure.
There have been many instances of air safety violations in the last few years.
According to information from the ministry, there have been 347 incidents of air safety violations in 2016. A total of 276 such incidents were reported till November 2017.
Officials claimed that when a safety audit is ordered against an airline, it usually means that there will be a thorough check of all departments of the airline at one go.
The minister directed officials to prepare a comprehensive safety audit plan, which involves assessment of safety parameters of all scheduled airlines, aerodromes, flying training schools and MROs.
Further, he has directed that “safety audit should be commenced forthwith and a report to this effect should be submitted for his perusal within 30 days”.
In August, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had said financial audits of IndiGo and Air India were completed, and Jet Airways would be the next to go through the process.
