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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday imposed a fine of Rs 80 lakh on Air India for violating rules regarding flight duty time limitation (FDTL), which aim to ensure sufficient rest for pilots.
The regulator said on Friday that it had conducted an audit of Air India in January to see if the airline is complying with regulations related to FDTL and fatigue management system (FMS). The regulator collected a substantial amount of evidence and analysed random fleet-wise reports.
“The analysis of reports and evidence revealed that Air India operated flight(s) with both flight crew aged above 60 years flying together in a few instances, which is a violation of Sub Rule (2) of Rule 28 A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937,” the regulator stated.
As per Sub Rule (2), only one of the two pilots in a flight can be more than 60 years of age.
The DGCA noted, “The operator was also found deficient in providing adequate weekly rest, adequate rest before and after ultra-long range (ULR) flights and adequate rest on layover to flight crew, which violates the extant provisions of the civil aviation requirements (CARs) pertaining to FDTL.
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“Moreover, the instances of exceeding duty periods, wrongly marked training records, overlapping duties etc. were also observed during the audit,” it added.
After all this, the regulator had on March 1 issued a show cause notice to the airline.
“Pursuant to the non-satisfactory response submitted by the operator, a fine of Rs 80 lakh has been imposed on the operator,” it added.
The DGCA has been quite vocal on the issue of compliance of FDTL regulations. On January 8, it issued a new set of FDTL rules which will come into effect from June 1. The latest rules include additional rest for pilots, revision of night duty regulations, and directions for airlines to submit pilot fatigue reports. The new rules have been opposed by major carriers like Air India and IndiGo but the regulator has refused to extend the June 1 deadline.
Air India’s brush with aviation watchdog
In the last couple of years, there have been multiple instances when Air India has earned the regulator’s ire. For example, in February, Air India incurred a Rs 30 lakh fine from the DGCA after an elderly passenger suffered a fatal heart attack.
The passenger had chosen to walk from the aircraft to the terminal due to the airline’s inability to provide a requested wheelchair, leading to the tragic incident minutes later.
In January, Air India was told to pay a Rs 30 lakh fine for not rostering sufficient trained pilots to land on low visibility (CAT-III landings).
CAT-III instrument landing system is used at major airports across India to allow pilots to land aircraft when visibility is as low as 50 metres. However, a pilot must be trained to use this system. In January, hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled across the country due to dense fog.
In June 2023, the DGCA had suspended two Air India pilots -- a captain for one year and co-pilot for one month -- for allowing an unauthorised person in the cockpit during the airline’s Chandigarh-Leh flight on June 3.
A similar incident had taken place on the airline’s Delhi-Dubai flight on February 27, 2023, when it's captain had allowed a female friend in the plane’s cockpit. The DGCA had in April 2023 suspended this captain for three months and warned the co-pilot as he was not assertive to prevent this violation.
In January 2023, the DGCA had fined Air India Rs 30 lakh for lapses in handling an incident where a man urinated on a woman co-passenger on a New York to Delhi flight.
In June 2022, the regulator had fined Air India Rs 10 lakh for not giving required compensation to passengers with valid tickets who were denied boarding.
