Paramount Airways airline permit suspended, says DGCA

DGCA forces Paramount to cancel flights; airline says will resume

Chennai-based Paramount Airways has cancelled all flights following the suspension of the scheduled-airline permit by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). However, the airline is hopeful of resuming operations on Wednesday.

Even as the suspension of permit came about, Paramount officials maintained that there will be no flights till April 21, 2010 as the airline is flying with just two aircraft and they are being put under maintenance. The DGCA, however, had a different story to tell and elaborated that the permit was suspended on Sunday night as the airline failed to comply with some regulations. The DGCA has also inactivated the airline’s domestic schedule on its website.

It is a known fact that Paramount had been operating services with just one Embraer aircraft VT-PAC, and had been flying this aircraft to destinations such as Madurai, Coimbatore and Trivandrum after three of its other aircraft were de-registered. In such a scenario, Paramount is now looking at more acquisition of aircraft. Managing director M Thiagarajan has been quoted by media reports as saying that Paramount is looking at acquiring six more aircraft within the next two months.

Paramount Airways is hopeful of including in its fleet two Embraers and four Airbus aircraft in a short period. The airline had crossed swords with GE Commercial Aviation Services following which three of its aircraft were deregistered. Paramount had to ground an aircraft, leased by Embraer, for over nine months and it has been pointed out by industry reports that many parts, including both the engines, are missing.

The airline company has, of late, been rubbished by its own employees for non-payment of salaries. They have alleged that salaries of co-pilots had been slashed by 50 per cent following which six of them quit. The only Indian pilot had quit some time ago for non-receipt of salary.