Appropriately sensitise staff at airports to inform passengers on flight delays: DGCA tells airlines
New Delhi, Jan 15: Aviation watchdog DGCA on Monday asked airlines to publish accurate real-time information regarding flight delays and appropriately sensitise staff at airports to suitably communicate with passengers amid fog-related disruptions at airports.
Against the backdrop of a significant number of flights getting delayed and cancelled and passengers facing tough times, the regulator has come out with a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
Earlier in the day, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said all stakeholders are working round-the-clock to minimise fog-related disruptions in flight operations and that DGCA will come out with SOPs to ensure "better communication and facilitation of passengers to minimise discomfort in view of flight cancellations and delays due to adverse weather".
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday said that airlines should be required to publish accurate real-time information regarding delays in their flights.
There should also be appropriate sensitisation of the airline staff at the airports to suitably communicate with and continuously guide and inform the passengers about flight delays, according to a release.
This also comes amid an incident of a passenger assaulting an IndiGo pilot as he was making a flight delay announcement onboard an aircraft that was bound for Goa. The incident happened at the Delhi airport on Sunday.
"In view of the prevalent fog season and adverse weather conditions, airlines may cancel, sufficiently in advance, such flights that are anticipated to be delayed or consequentially delayed on account of such conditions beyond a period of 3 hours with a view to obviate congestion at the airport and mitigate passenger inconvenience," DGCA said.
The SOPs have been issued in view of the "fog-induced disruptions and adverse weather conditions at various airports, including Delhi airport, causing delays, cancellations and inconvenience to passengers", an official release said.
The regulator has Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) pertaining to 'facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights'.
The airlines are also required to publish the reference of the CAR on the flight tickets, as per the release.
The CAR was issued to ensure appropriate protection for air travellers in case of flight disruptions and, in particular, denied boardings, flight cancellations and delays without due notice to the passengers booked on the flight(s).
"It is, accordingly, obligatory on the part of all airlines to mandatorily adhere to the provisions of the above CAR.
"However, in case of Force Majeure events i.e. extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the airline, the provisions of the above CAR are not applicable," the release said.
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Mohsin's fifer helps LSG restrict KKR to 155/7 despite Rinku's 83
Lucknow (PTI): Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mohsin Khan added another sordid chapter to Kolkata Knight Riders' batting woes, taking five wickets to restrict the three-time champions to a modest 155 for seven in their IPL match here on Sunday.
Mohsin’s 5 for 23, a personal best for the left-arm pacer in this format, tore apart an already struggling KKR batting unit, as he snaffled the cream wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Tim Seifert, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell and Anukul Roy.
Rinku Singh (83 not out, 51 balls) made a well-paced fifty and punished Mohammed Shami in the 19th over for 6, 4, 4 and the smoked four sixes in a row against spinner Digvesh Rathi as KKR made 43 runs in the last two overs to go past the 150-run mark.
But his fifty remained a lone act, as Mohsin firmly stood in the limelight.
His bowling ethos were rooted in simple tactics — bang the ball into the black soil pitch to gain bounce or use cutters at various pace to keep the batters guessing.
Mohsin, who started the night with a wicket maiden, showed his variety across two dismissals.
He followed Rahane with a fuller ball as the batter tried to go over the covers, but the ball’s trajectory forced the KKR skipper to just slice the ball up for a simple catch for Aiden Markram.
The 27-year-old stayed calm when Green, who looked comfortable out there while smashing George Linde for two successive sixes, slammed him for a huge maximum.
Two balls later, Mohsin dug one short, challenging Green (34) to go for the pull and the Australian all-rounder took the bait.
The into-the-body angle worked again as Green could only sky the ball to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
Green’s ouster also ended a fifth wicket alliance worth 42 with Rinku Singh.
Bizarre dismissal of Raghuvanshi
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If the existing turmoil was not enough, KKR had to bear the dejection of seeing Angkrish Raghuvanshi getting dismissed obstructing the field.
On the final ball of the fifth over from Prince Yadav, Raghuvanshi nudged one towards mid-on and set off for a single, only to be rejected by Green.
Raghuvanshi put in a dive to save himself but he came in the line of the throw from Shami.
Subsequently, third umpire Rohit Pandit accepted LSG’s appeal and decided that the batter’s turning radius was more than required, eventually resulting in the batter’s dismissal in a rare manner.
