Airport facilities of VIPs to continue

New Delhi: MPs and other

VIPs will continue to enjoy facilities like being served tea, coffee and water free of charge at airports besides access to terminal building, with the Centre informing the Lok Sabha there was no move to scrap them.

● The privileges include reserved lounge facilities at international and domestic terminals of the airports, and tea/coffee served free of charge

The civil aviation ministry informed Parliament on Monday that there was no proposal or move to curtail any privileges, currently enjoyed by Members of Parliament (MPs) at airports across the country.

In another matter, the ministry also informed Parliament that a whopping 320 pilots from various airlines were found to have been flying aircraft in the country with “lapsed Pilot Proficiency Check” in 2014 in an audit by aviation regulator DGCA.

The ministry has made it clear that MPs will continue to enjoy the privileges extended to them currently at airports. These include reserved lounge facilities at international and domestic terminals of the airports, tea/coffee/water served free of charge, free access in the terminal building and visitors gallery on the basis of identity card, airport entry pass to personal staff of MP — one at New Delhi and another for an airport nearest to his / her constituency, and designation of one officer of airport as protocol officer at each airport who is responsible for extension of all facilities/courtesies to MPs.

The ministry made it clear that the “protocol is to be followed by all concerned, including private airports and airlines”.

On proficiency check, the ministry said that “during DGCA audit of training facilities of airlines in the year 2014, it was found that some pilots have flown aircraft with lapsed Pilot Proficiency Check”.

The total number of such pilots were 320 of which 101 were from Air India, 70 from its subsidiary Air India Express while 130 were from Jet Airways.