Govt orders inspection of structural strength of all airports

The civil aviation ministry on Friday ordered a thorough inspection of the structural strength of all airports in the country, following the roof collapse incident at the Delhi airport that left one dead and at least six persons injured.

Following the incident that happened at around 5 am on Friday at Terminal 1, the operations at the terminal have been suspended and the flights that are to operate from there have been shifted to T2 and T3.

Sources in the know said that more than 100 flights that were to be operated from T1 have been cancelled by IndiGo and SpiceJet.

At a review meeting convened by Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu, it was also decided that a 24x7 war room will be set up for efficient management of passengers at T2 and T3.

"The war room will ensure the full refund of cancelled flights or provide alternative travel route tickets," an official statement said.

Further, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been directed to issue a circular to all minor and major airports to conduct a thorough inspection of structural strength.

These inspections must be completed within the next 2-5 days and the reports are to be submitted to the ministry.

"Based on the findings, the need for increased safety measures and the development of long term policies to prevent the recurrence of such unfortunate incidents will be formulated at priority," the statement said.

Structural engineers from IIT Delhi have been asked to immediately assess the incident at the Delhi airport.

T1 has only domestic flight operations by IndiGo and SpiceJet. The airport -- which has three terminals T1, T2 and T3 -- handles around 1,400 flight movements daily.

Besides, an "advisory has been released to all airlines to ensure that this situation does not lead to a steep increase in airfare. Airlines to maintain fare stability to avoid passenger inconvenience".

Naidu held the review meeting with senior officials of the ministry, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).