DGCA: No Information About Criteria for Converting Jamnagar Airport to International Airport Temporarily

Remember the recent pre-wedding ceremony of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant, two famous business celebrities in India at Jamnagar. A lot of international guests were invited to the ceremony. Rihanna, Mark Zuckerberg, Ivanka Trump, and Bill Gates, along with many bollywood celebrities attended the pre-wedding celebration.

The ceremony was held at Jamnagar in Gujarat. Hence, the airport in Jamnagar was granted an international status temporarily for 10 days. But now, there is an important twist in this case.

DGCA Has No Idea

According to an RTI reply, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said that it is not aware of the rules and provisions under which Jamnagar Airport was granted temporary international status. The RTI reply added that there is no such information available with the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO). DGCA is the body responsible for managing the aviation safety in India.

From February 15 to March 5, Jamnagar Airport was granted international status. It is a sensitive airport and is handled by the Indian Air Force (IAF). Because of the pre-wedding ceremony, the IAF established a temporary customs and immigration unit at the airport facility to cater to international passengers.

T Narasimha Murthy was the activist who filed the RTI asking the basis on which DGCA allowed the temporary transformation of a civil enclave into an international airport. However, DGCA has no answers. Murthy says that citizens have the right to know how an airfield near the Pakistan border can receive such temporary status.

Other than rules, Murthy also asked for copies of NOC granted by different departments which gave approvals for the conversion. Furthermore, the RTI asked about the cost incurred to convert this limited-resource airport to an international one. As expected, DGCA has no idea.

Jamnagar Airport Conversion: Was It Really Dangerous?

First of all, Jamnagar is a civil enclave, from where both passenger and defence operations are conducted. As it is in proximity to the border region, it is controlled by the Indian Air Force (IAF). During the evacuation of Indian nationals stranded in the Yemen war in 2015, this airport played a crucial role as a C-17 Globemaster was based here to transport passengers from Djibouti to Jamnagar.

As per data compiled by India Today, the airport handled around 300 private jets within a period of 6 days between Feb 27 and March 4. This includes international arrivals from Paris, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London, Milan, Doha, Muscat, Bahrain, Istanbul, Malta, Riyadh, Seoul, Sharjah, Beijing, Kuwait, and Vietnam.

Around 300 private jets were allowed to land at the airport runway but were not allowed to park at the airport premises for safety reasons. These jets were parked at nearby airports such as Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, etc.

The main factor to consider here is that the Customs and Immigration department at Indian airports is handled by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). Hence, DGCA is just an impact player here. It has no direct involvement in granting permissions. Maybe, this is the reason why it has refrained from providing any data.

One more weird perspective is that imagine if the airport had not been converted. A total of 300 aircraft would have landed at other airports like Rajkot, Ahmedabad, and Vadodara. This could have resulted in congestion at these airports, resulting in passenger inconvenience.

Conclusion: Jamnagar Airport Conversion Controversy

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in an RTI reply said that it has no idea regarding the rules and provisions behind the temporary conversion of Jamnagar Airport to an international airport. For 10 days, the airport received international flights after building a temporary customs and immigration unit. This article discussed whether this was dangerous or normal.

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