Air India, Jet planes avert collision

A collision between two departing aircraft, which carried 239 passengers between them, was narrowly averted on Sunday morning at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The incident on the runway occurred just a day after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation passed instructions allowing round-the clock usage of the cross runways that were earlier being used for only six hours a day. Aviation experts say the near collision puts a serious question mark on safety assessment at the airport.

The incident occurred around 8 am, when Air India flight AI-348 was preparing to take off from the main runway, even as Jet Airways flight 9W615 was readying for the same from the airport’s secondary runway. The planes came within seconds of a possible collision because the airport’s runways intersect one another and, according to sources, either a take-off clearance was given to both planes simultaneously or one of the pilots misunderstood the Air Traffic Control’s (ATC) instructions.

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China opens air space for Jet flight to San Francisco

Chinese and Indian civil aviation authorities on Wednesday met here to resolve their differences over fifth freedom rights in their air bilateral agreement and it is learnt that the former has, after a lot of persuasion, agreed to allow San Francisco as a ‘beyond point' for India. Fifth freedom rights refer to the right to carry passengers from one's own country to a second country, and from there to a third country. So, with San Francisco agreed upon as a ‘beyond point' by China, an Indian airline can fly to China and from there to San Francisco. This is good news for private airline Jet Airways which has been keenly waiting to service destinations on the US west coast.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has shot off a notice to Chinese cargo carrier Great Wall Airline to submit its documents for security clearance at the earliest. India had permitted Great Wall Airlines earlier this year to fly to Mumbai and Chennai besides Delhi, despite security concerns by the National Security Council secretariat and other agencies.

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