Picture credits: Air India
New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a ₹30 lakh fine on Tata Group-owned Air India for allegedly allowing a pilot to operate a flight without meeting mandatory regulatory requirements. The penalty follows a serious lapse in the airline’s rostering system, which failed to prevent the violation.
According to the DGCA’s January 29, 2025 order, a first officer operated a flight on July 7, 2024, without fulfilling the mandatory recency requirement of completing three takeoffs and landings before operating a commercial flight.
“This is a clear violation of Paragraph 3 of the Civil Aviation Requirements, which outlines the minimum requirements for pilots to maintain their operational readiness,” the DGCA said in its statement.
The aviation regulator criticized Air India’s rostering system, stating that multiple alerts were ignored. “The (rostering) controllers overlooked multiple spurious alerts reflecting on the Crew Alerting and Event (CAE) window,” the DGCA’s order noted.
Following the violation, the DGCA issued a show-cause notice on December 13, 2024, to Air India’s head of operations, head of rostering, and other senior executives. Their responses were found “unsatisfactory,” leading to the financial penalty.
Along with the fine, the DGCA has directed Air India to take disciplinary action against three senior officials in the rostering department. The airline has been given 15 days to submit a compliance report on the actions taken.
“In exercise of the powers conferred under Rule 162 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, the DGCA hereby imposes a penalty of ₹30,00,000,” the order stated.
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(Inputs from PTI)