DGCA fines Air India Rs 80 lakh for flight duty time management violations

Air India was fined Rs 80 lakh two months after the DGCA conducted a spot audit of Air India Limited in the month of January in order to check regulatory compliance

Air India was fined Rs 80 lakh by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday for violation of "regulations pertaining to Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) and fatigue management system (FMS) of flight crew," the aviation body said.

The development followed after the DGCA conducted a spot audit of Air India Limited in January to check regulatory compliance. The DGCA analysed fleet-wise random reports during the audit.

According to the DGCA, evidence suggests that the airline operated "flight(s) with both flight crew aged above 60 years flying together in a few instances." This is a violation of Sub Rule (2) of Rule 28 A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937.

 

Deficient in providing adequate weekly rest

"... the operator was also found deficient in providing adequate weekly rest, adequate rest before & after ultra-long range flights and adequate rest on layover to the flight crew, which violates the extant provisions of the Civil Aviation Requirements pertaining to FDTL," the regulator said in a release.

On March 1, the regulator issued a show cause notice to Air India over the issue. The aviation watchdog said that the fine was imposed as the operator's response to the show cause notice was "not found satisfactory."

Pursuant to the non-satisfactory response submitted by the operator, a fine of Rs 80,00,000 has been imposed on the operator," the release said.

Overlapping duties and wrongly marked training records were also some of the issues found with the airline.