CHENNAI: Next time when you travel in an aircraft, you may spot a new feature displaying the age of the flight. In a step towards air passenger safety, the Madras high court has directed the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to consider the feasibility of furnishing details regarding age of aircraft to passengers. The First Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan, before which a PIL filed by M. Purushothaman, an advocate, came up for hearing, passed the order. The petitioner sought a direction to DGCA to direct all airlines, offering domestic and international services, to inform passengers about the age of the aircraft.
Closing the petition, the Bench said as courts are not experts in this field, it was asking DGCA to consider whether the petitioner’s request is feasible and desirable. Purushothaman submitted “We often come across reports of miss situation and aborted landings due to engine and equipment failure during take-off and landing of flights”. Recently, a 25-year old aircraft crashed in Nigeria resulting in death of the more than 100 passengers. Our national carrier, Air India and Indian Airlines are operating many aircraft that are very old. “As a travelling public entrusting their lives in the hands of the aircraft operators, passengers have every right to be informed about the age of the aircraft in which they are going to travel”, he said.
“Passengers would consider it prudent that a recently built aircraft is safer to travel.” He sent a representation to DGCA on May 6, 2013. As there was no response, he filed the present petition. Meanwhile, in the DGCA website, the authorities have started displaying a message calling upon passengers to know details and reliability of the aircraft before they fly.
