Not against DGCA or MoCA, want clarity on pilots' notice period: Akasa Air

The airline has faced heat following the abrupt exit of its 43 pilots who did not serve their mandatory notice periods

Akasa Air on Friday said it had moved the Delhi High Court (HC) to seek clarity on the mandatory notice period requirements for pilots, and asserted the move was not against the DGCA or the civil aviation ministry.

Akasa Air, which started operations in August last year, initiated legal action against the 43 pilots who left the carrier without serving notice periods that led to the cancellation of several flights.

The airline said its petition in the HC aims to seek clarification and instructions to enforce the interim order relating to a pilot’s notice period, and that it is ‘non-adversarial’ in nature. 

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“We want to clarify that it is not a matter against the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) or the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) but a plea to the courts to urgently interpret and clarify the interim order issued by the very same court on the very same matter in 2018, relating to mandatory notice period requirements by the pilots,” an Akasa Air spokesperson said. 

First officers at the airline have to serve a mandatory notice period of six months, while captains have to serve for a period of one year.
 

“Since the beginning of the proceedings, our assertion in court has been that this is a “non-adversarial” claim and is only in the nature of seeking clarifications and instructions to enforce an existing interim order and the Civil Aviation Regulation,” the spokesperson added.