Aviation Regulator Fines Air India Rs 98 lakh – Here’s Why

News agency ANI has quoted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as saying that the aviation regulator has imposed a financial penalty of Rs 98 lakh on Air India Limited. The DGCA has said the fined has been imposed for operating flights with non-qualified crew members.

In addition to this, the DGCA has also imposed a a penalty of Rs 6 lakh and Rs 3 lakh respectively on the Director Operations and Director Training of Air India.

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“The concerned pilot has been warned to exercise caution to prevent such occurrences in future. M/s Air India Limited operated a flight commanded by a non-trainer line captain paired with a non-line-released first officer which has been viewed by the regulator as a serious scheduling incident having significant safety ramifications,” the DGCA said in a statement. It further added that the concerned pilot has been warned to exercise caution to prevent such occurrences in future.

After Air India operated a flight with a non-trainer line captain and a non-line-released first officer, the incident was voluntarily reported by the airline. It prompted the regulator to conduct investigations into its operations which revealed several regulatory violations.

On July 22, the DGCA issued show cause notices to the flight commander and approved Post Holders of Air India.

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Previously in March, Air India was fined for violation of pilot rest period rules of DGCA and a penalty of Rs 80 lakh was imposed. The aviation authority conducted an audit of Air India in January to check if it was complying to regulations on Flight Duty Time Limit (FDTL).