Corporate honchos like Ratan Tata, the Ambanis and Lakshmi Mittal, who own luxury aircraft, asked to fit speed governors on their swanky cars or forfeit airport entry passes
Corporate honchos like Ratan Tata, the Ambanis and Lakshmi Mittal, who own luxury aircraft, asked to fit speed governors on their swanky cars or forfeit airport entry passes
Owners of private jets will no longer get to drive their plush cars in across the apron area of Mumbai airport unless they are fitted with mandatory speed governors to ensure drivers do not exceed 30 kmph.
While the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) wants all vehicles, including Bentley, Rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz models that are driven by the high and mighty in the apron area to follow new apron safety rules, starting January 1, some corporate houses have sought exemptions, arguing that unencumbered access to the apron was part of the luxury that came with owning a private aircraft.
"The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has since withdrawn the all-access passes issued to these cars and reissued passes which restrict their entry to the old airport area," an airport official said. MIAL has informed all operators that airport entry passes will be withdrawn if they fail to comply with the new directives. "We have decided to enforce the new rules in view of the rising incidence of vehicular accidents inside theu00a0 Mumbai apron," the MIAL official explained.
Aviation expert Vipul Saxena said that the DGCA circular on apron safety has been awaiting implementation since 2007.
"The transition process of airport operations from Airport Authority of India to MIAL has been one of the major reasons for delay in implementation," Saxena explained.
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