India’s leading domestic airlines have opposed a request from the National Security Guard (NSG) to conduct anti-hijacking exercises on their fleet, fearing likely damage to the aircraft.
Instead, the domestic airlines have conveyed to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) that planes would be made available to NSG only for familiarisation and orientation and “not for exercise purpose.”
It has also requested the anti-hijacking drills to be conducted during non-operational hours at night as any such exercise during the day would lead to cancellations causing “huge” commercial losses to the airlines.
“Such cancellations shall not only cause huge inconvenience to the travelling passengers but shall also attract huge cost to the member airlines in terms of non-commercial operations and any likely damage to the aircraft during the exercise,” the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), which represents IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and GoAir, said in a letter to BCAS.
“In view of the above and to continue the patronage with NSG, member airlines propose to provide aircraft for familiarisation and orientation purpose only during non-operational hours i.e. between 0000hrs to 0300hrs at IGI airport,” the letter stated.
On the NSG’s request, the BCAS had requested all commercial airlines to provide different type of aircraft for anti-hijacking drills planned at IGI airport in New Delhi from August 2 to August 30.
The NSG has been conducting regular training exercises on aircraft in the past. However, since the seating pattern and essentials vary from aircraft to aircraft and between airlines, the NSG wanted to conduct training on all types of aircraft in the airlines’ fleet from 8 a.m.-11.59 p.m. for nine days during August.
However, the NSG didn’t take aircraft from these four airlines for conducting its drill in August for unknown reasons. A senior BCAS official said that re-scheduling of drills is a normal practice.
In the letter, the airlines referred to a meeting in August 2012 that took place under the chairmanship of BB Dash, then joint commissioner of security of the BCAS, wherein it was stated that aircraft shall be made available only for familiarisation and orientation and not for exercise purpose. Back then, the BCAS had directed Air India and Jet Airways to provide each type of aircraft to NSG’s Counter Hijack Task Force and had said that it will “examine co-opting the aircraft of other domestic airlines also.”
In the past, NSG commandos have practised on aircraft parked at various airports by simulating real life situations in a bid to counter hijacking. The FIA said that its member airlines had provided chartered aircraft for 32 sectors to undertake counter hijack and counter terrorist exercises on commercial basis for NSG.
“…Airlines do not have passive capacity in terms of aircraft for the above mentioned training and this shall have cascading effect on cancellation of a number of flights across the network both on domestic and international route,” it said, adding “However, the FIA and its member airlines are committed to national security and are willing to offer aircraft during emergency situations.”
In 1999, a Delhi-bound Indian Airlines flight IC-184 that took off from Kathmandu was hijacked after it entered the Indian airspace and it was forced to land in Kandahar,Afghanistan. The hijackers had demanded release of militants for freeing the passengers. In 2011, hijacked planes were used as missiles to crash into the Twin Towers in the U.S., also known as the 9/11 strike.
This year has seen heightened security at airports across the globe after Turkey’s Ataturk International Airport and the Brussels airport were bombed by suspected Islamic State militants.
