Parliamentary panel meets aviation ministry, airline officials; ask about AI plane crash, airfare surge

A Parliamentary panel on Tuesday held discussions with senior civil aviation ministry officials as well as airline and airport representatives, with several Parliamentarians mentioning the Air India plane crash and when the probe report will be ready, sources said.

The members also raised concerns over a sudden surge in Srinagar airfares following the Pahalgam terror attack in April, sources said.

Among other issues, the sources said that some members demanded an audit of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), headed by senior Congress leader K C Venugopal, met the senior officials and airline representatives.

Top airline representatives, including Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson were present, the sources said.

Many panel members mentioned the Air India plane crash on June 12, and one of the members sought to know from the ministry officials about the time frame for completing the analysis of the aircraft's black boxes, the sources said.

Around 270 people were killed due to the fatal crash of the London Gatwick-bound Air India plane in Ahmedabad soon after takeoff on June 12.

The sources said that several committee members expressed concerns over the sudden rise in airfares for Srinagar flights following the Pahalgam terror attack.

The ban was imposed as part of various measures taken by the government against Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people on April 22.

Officials from the ministry, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA), Airports Authority of India (AAI), AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Ltd (AAICLAS) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), among others, attended the meeting.

The agenda of the meeting is to take oral evidence of the representatives of the ministry, DGCA, AERA, AAI, AAICLAS, BCAS and other concerned organisations, including airport operators and airlines, on the subject 'Levy and regulation of fees, tariffs, user charges, etc. on public infrastructure and other public utilities', as per the Lok Sabha website.