Air India Fined ₹98 Lakh By DGCA For Operating Flights With Non-Qualified Crew Members

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a financial penalty of ₹98 lakh on Air India. According to the civil aviation watchdog, Air India was operating flights with non-qualified crew members. As per their report, the airline operated a flight with a non-trainer line captain and a non-line-released first officer. Read on to know more about this.

Air India Fined For Operating Flights With Non-Qualified Crew Members

On August 23, DGCA imposed a fine of ₹98 lakh on Air India. According to them, the airline was operating flights with non-qualified crew members. Besides the nearly ₹1 crore penalty, DGCA also imposed a fine of ₹6 lakh and ₹3 lakh on director operations and director training of Air India, respectively.

As per The Economic Times report, Air India operated a flight commanded by a non-trainer line captain. He was paired with a non-line-released first officer on the flight. As per DGCA’s statement, this incident has been “viewed as a serious scheduling incident having significant safety ramifications.” The concerned pilot in this case has been “warned to exercise caution to prevent such occurrences in future.”

It is to be noted that this incident came to DGCA’s notice through a voluntary report submitted by Air India. According to The Economic Times report, Air India submitted the report on July 10. After this, the DGCA conducted a comprehensive investigation into the airline’s operations and uncovered multiple regulatory violations. On July 22, the aviation regulator issued a show-cause notice to the airline but was not satisfied with the response from Air India or the pilot.

Also Read: Ahead Of Durga Puja, Air India Adds Additional Flights To Kolkata From These 4 Destinations

DGCA Imposed ₹80 Lakh Fine On The Airline In March

This isn’t the first time that Air India has faced the heat from the DGCA. In the last 18 months, this is the 12th fine Air India has been issued a fine by the aviation watchdog. As per a Moneycontrol report, Air India has been fined around ₹5 crore for various violations and allegations in the last few months. This includes ₹1.10 crore fine over allegations of safety violations on some long-haul flights. The most recent one was issued in March this year. The regulators imposed a fine of ₹80 lakh on Air India for violation of pilot rest period rules of DGCA.

Also Read: Air India Cancels Delhi-New York Flight; Passenger Gets Late For Office & Asks “How Should I Explain This To My Company?”

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