DGCA conducts 36-hour safety audit at Kolkata Airport after Ahmedabad crash; Nationwide review underway

Following a recent aircraft accident in Ahmedabad, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), under instructions from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has initiated a nationwide audit of airport safety infrastructure. As part of the ongoing review, a six-member DGCA team led by senior official Bharat Bhushan conducted a 36-hour audit at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. The audit began on Tuesday night and continued until 2 PM on Thursday.

Kolkata is the third major airport in India to undergo this audit after similar inspections were carried out at Mumbai and Delhi airports. The inspection covered all critical aspects of airport operations including runway conditions, runway lighting, taxi bays, aircraft parking zones, turnaround time of flights, aircraft maintenance facilities, drainage systems, and functioning of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) cadre. Each component was reviewed as part of the standardized audit checklist developed for this nationwide safety reassessment.

Sources said that the DGCA team will now proceed to Patna Airport for the next phase of inspection. The audit report from Kolkata is expected to be submitted to the Ministry of Civil Aviation within seven days. The review is part of a broader national plan to ensure all airports adhere to updated safety protocols and infrastructure benchmarks.