41 planes on the ground, thousands of stranded passengers! / Who should resign for 21 days of grounding?

8 days have passed since the promise of the head of the organization, 21 days since the letter of the director general of the airworthiness office, and 41 airplanes are still parked at the airports, and every day because of this delay, the ticket is more expensive, the flight is less, the delay is more, and the pressure on the passengers and airlines is increasing.

According to the reporter of Safir Arjan Road and Urban Development, since the beginning of October and following the implementation of the order of the Civil Aviation Organization, 41 MD planes were grounded due to technical considerations related to JT8D-200 engines. These planes form a significant part of the country's active and operational fleet.

Further, a letter from the Director General of the Airworthiness Office was issued, in which it was announced that the JT8D-200 engines, which were cleared from the domestic repair centers until September 31st, can continue to operate if they meet the technical requirements, but after more than 8 days of the promise of the head of the organization and 21 days from the letter of the Director General of the Airworthiness Office, there is still no news of the return of these 41 aircraft to the flight routes, and now it is said that the permit that was issued is only a legal technical permit and not a license. operational

Therefore, in order for an airplane to take off from the ground, a complete chain is needed, which seems to have not issued the flight qualification letter and is locked in the middle links of the chain, especially the supply of parts and the clearance of engines.

Of course, the ambiguity in the technical requirements and the conditions that remain pending is also significant and the key phrase in the letter of the director general of the airworthiness office, such as "if the technical requirements are met", shows that firstly, a specific criterion for compliance has not been determined, secondly, the approval authority has not been named exactly, while the implementation deadline for the fulfillment of the condition has not been determined.

Another issue is that the letter mentions that the engines that were cleared from internal repair centers until September 31 are allowed to operate, but this stipulation has passed and the question is, what will happen to the engines that are cleared after this date? It is also unclear exactly how many engines are subject to this approval, and if the number of cleared engines is less than the number of aircraft in need, only a portion of the fleet will actually be able to fly.

Apart from that, the JT8D-200 engine is an old American engine whose supply of parts and services has been severely limited due to American and European sanctions, and the inherent wear and tear of these engines and the difficulty of supplying parts have made the process of meeting the technical requirements take months.

Therefore, the grounding of 41 planes during the peak period of sanctions has severely reduced the country's flight capacity, which directly results in the increase in ticket prices, the decrease in the number of flights and the increase in delays, the weakening of competition in the air transportation market and the pressure on passengers and airlines.

It seems that the story of 41 MD planes is a clear example of the gap between decision and implementation in the administrative system, and this paradox is not a technical problem, but a managerial problem, in the situation where sanctions have put the most pressure on the aviation industry, and the grounding of every plane every day means national damage, reduced flight safety, and double pressure on passengers. Therefore, until the technical criteria are clarified, the implementation deadline is not determined, and institutional accountability is not required, the issuance of each new letter will only add one more promise to the list of fulfilled promises.