Reliance's business jet grounded, JSPL's jet could face same action on Monday

NEW DELHI: India’s largest private sector company Reliance Industries Ltd and Naveen Jindal-promoted Jindal Steel and Power Ltd are the latest to go into the bad books of the civil aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

After the regulatory conducted a surprise check on the business jets at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Saturday evening, the regulator has found that the jets of both companies had major safety lapses.

“A Falcon 900EX, registered VT-ISH of Reliance Commercial Dealers Ltd has been grounded and action on the Bombardier Global Express BD700 registered VT-JSB with Jindal Steel and Power Ltd will be decided on Monday,” a senior official of the DGCA confirmed.

Reliance Commercial Dealers Limited is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd. The official quoted above said that the 14-seater Falcon 900EX was grounded just before taking off. However, the person declined to name the people travelling via the flight.

“The flight had to be grounded as most of the safety equipment on board including a fire extinguisher, personal breathing equipment and other such critical equipment were being used despite their expiry date being over,” said the official.

“The commander of the flight was not carrying his license and the co-pilot also did not carry all the requisite documents,” the official added. “Both the people have been suspended.”

The aircraft will remain grounded till the equipment is replaced with the new ones. It is not clear yet whether further action will be taken against the operator of the aircraft.

RIL’s spokesperson could not be reached for a comment on the story.

Meanwhile, the 13-seater Global Express BD700 of JSPL has not yet been grounded but it could face similar action on Monday.

The aircraft was found to be carrying operations manuals of a different aircraft. The aircraft also did not have safety and emergency equipment on board. JSPL’s spokesperson too could not be reached for a comment.

DGCA’s surprise checks comes more than a month after it was downgraded by the US’ Federal Aviation Administration. Out of the three issues raised by the FAA, one was pertaining to the DGCA’s lack of manpower to ensure safe operations of non-scheduled/general aviation flights.

The FAA had also pointed to some planes of Reliance Commercial Dealers Ltd were operating without carrying out flight readiness checks.

Since the downgrade, DGCA has been aggressive on even the smallest flight safety violations. Earlier this week, the low-cost carrier SpiceJet was issued a show-cause notice as to why its license should not be cancelled for operating flights where cabin crew performed dances to celebrate 'Holi'.