DGCA imposes Rs 80 lakh fine on Air India for flight violations

As a proactive step towards ensuring a high level of safety in aviation, DGCA conducted a spot audit of Air India Limited in the month of January

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a fine of Rs 80 lakhs on Air India Limited for violation of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) and fatigue management system (FMS) of flight crew. The fine was imposed after carrier's response to an earlier show cause notice was deemed "non satisfactory."

The statement comes after DGCA conducted a spot audit of Air India Limited in the month of January this year for verifying the regulatory compliance by the operator in respect of FDTL and FMS regulations, the aviation regulator said in a statement on March 22.

The analysis of reports and evidences revealed that Air India Limited operated flight(s) with both flight crew aged above 60 years flying together in few instances, which is a violation of Sub Rule (2) of Rule 28 A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. "The operator was also found deficient in providing adequate weekly rest, adequate rest before & after ultra-long range (ULR) flights and adequate rest on layover to flight crew, which violates the extant provisions of the Civil Aviation Requirements pertaining to FDTL," it noted.

Moreover, the instances of exceeding duty periods, wrongly marked training records, overlapping duties etc. were also observed during the audit, DGCA added.

Earlier too, the aviation regulator had fined Rs 30 lakh on Air India after an octogenarian passenger died after collapsing at the time of immigration process on February 12.

"The airline failed to show compliance with Civil Aviation Requirements rules as the airline did not provide any wheelchair to the elderly passenger," the aviation regulator said in a statement last month.

This is the tenth fine Air India has been issued by the DGCA in the last 12 months. The airline has been fined around Rs 4 crore for various fines including a Rs 1.10 crore on Air India over allegations of safety violations of flights on certain long-range terrain critical routes.