The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Thursday issued an advisory urging airline pilots to make in-flight announcements about en route important monuments or sites, like the Taj Mahal and the Statue of Unity, in order to increase awareness about the country’s cultural heritage, PTI reported.
“To enhance awareness about the cultural heritage of India, a pilot can make in-flight announcement about the important monument or site [such as the Taj Mahal, the Konark Temple, the Ajanta Ellora, the Statue of Unity, etc], which are en route the flight,” the advisory said.
The aviation regulator said that airlines may consider making in-flight announcements in local languages, in addition to the ones made in Hindi and English. The Airports Authority of India in 2016 had issued a circular directing airports under its control to make public announcements in the local language followed by Hindi and English.
Airlines can make the additional announcements without compromising any safety requirements or the core jobs performed by the crew members, said the DGCA. “It is made clear that the above announcements be made without compromising safety of operations at any stage,” the advisory said.
On December 22, Goa minister Vijai Sardesai said that workers of his Goa Forward Party should prevent airlines from operating at the Dabolim airport if they failed to make announcements in the local Konkani language. “Blacking out Konkani at the Goa airport is unacceptable and we should project our language first,” Sardesai had said.
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