Air India Penalised ₹98 Lakh For Operating Flights With 'Non-Qualified' Pilots

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has levied a ₹98 lakh fine on Air India for operating flights with unqualified crew members, the aviation regulator said in a statement. Besides, the DGCA imposed fines of ₹6 lakh and ₹3 lakh on Air India's Director of Operations and Director of Training, respectively, as stated in the official report.

"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.  

The incident was brought to the attention of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) through a voluntary report submitted by Air India on July 10. Upon receiving the report, the DGCA launched an investigation, uncovering numerous deficiencies and multiple violations of regulatory provisions involving several key personnel and staff members.

DGCA also said the flight's commander and the post holders of the airline were provided an opportunity to explain their position through show cause notices issued on July 22.

The reply submitted by the concerned entities failed to provide satisfactory justification. As such, DGCA has initiated enforcement action in terms of provisions of the extant rules/ regulations and imposed the above penalty, the watchdog noted.