Air India faced the heat of regulator as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday levied a penalty of Rs 90 lakh on the airlines for operating a flight with non-qualified crew members.
In addition to this, penalties of Rs 6 lakh and Rs 3 lakh were imposed on the director of operations and the director of training at Air India, respectively.
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The incident involved a non-trainer line captain being paired with a non-line-released first officer. It was flagged by the airline in a voluntary report submitted to the DGCA on July 10, 2024.
Following the report, DGCA conducted a comprehensive investigation into Air India’s operations, which included examining documentation and conducting a spot check of the airline’s scheduling facility.
The investigation revealed multiple regulatory violations and deficiencies, potentially compromising safety.
In response to show-cause notices issued on July 22, 2024, the involved flight commander and DGCA-approved post holders at Air India provided explanations that were deemed unsatisfactory by the regulator.
Consequently, the DGCA imposed the aforementioned penalties and warned the concerned pilot to exercise greater caution in the future.
Air India has been on the regulator’s radar earlier as well. In March, it was fined with Rs 80 lakh for violations related to flight duty time limitations.
In February, Air India incurred a Rs 30 lakh fine for poor handling of a passenger who later died of a heart attack.
Further, earlier in January, it was fined Rs 30 for not having an adequate number of pilots on duty for low-visibility landings.
