DGCA makes seat allocation compulsory

In a move that will directly affect the country's leading low-cost carrier, Air Deccan, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a norm that makes it mandatory for every airline to allocate seats and row numbers to passengers on the boarding card. The new guidelines came into effect last week on April 26. The guidelines have been issued under the provisions of Rule 133A of Aircraft Rules 1937 for all passenger transport aircraft operators. According to a Press statement released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the guidelines have been issued to "ensure correct loading of aircraft and keeping the centre of gravity of the aircraft within limits at all times during flight". According to the statement, the guidelines will do away with confusions and ensure "boarding is done in a smooth and orderly manner". Also, in the event of an accident, the numbers will help in investigations.

A DGCA official said a carrier violating the new rules will be forced to explain, before penal action is initiated. While all other carriers provide customers with boarding passes with seat numbers allocated, Air Deccan has been using free seating on its aircraft to save time. Industry experts pointed out that these measures will cause hike in fares. "Seat-number allocation measures will increase turnaround time of an aircraft by an hour, instead of the current 40 minutes. An idle Airbus A320 for an hour would mean $1800 to the owner. Therefore, the airline would finally pass on this additional cost to the passengers," said a source. "Globally, budget carriers were not allocating seat numbers in order to increase aircraft utilisation.

Airports’ infrastructure are also helping these carriers to help this system. With this (the new norm), passengers will have to report at least 2 hours in advance and those reporting late for a flight may have to be dumped,” say sources. Mohan Kumar, consultant and former chief finance officer of Air Deccan, added: "The new norm will not impact Air Deccan. There is no additional investment required to meet this condition. This will affect Air Deccan in future as and when the airline wants to increase the number of flights." At present, Air Deccan has a flight utilisation rate, which is between 10.5 hours and 11 hours. Air Deccan is targeting 12-hour aircraft utilisation rate in future, in line with international budget carriers.

Courtesy: Business Standard

visit us @ http://www.silkrouteholidays.com