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| Photo Credit: AP
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has slapped a fine of ₹90 lakh on Air India for operating a flight on July 9 from Mumbai to Riyadh with an unqualified crew.
This is the eighth financial penalty, totalling ₹3 crore, imposed on the airline by the aviation safety regulator since January 2023.
The latest fine follows a voluntary report submitted by Air India after it emerged that a junior pilot who is yet to be released for flying duties was assigned a flight with a captain who was not a trainer.
The regulator, in a press statement, said the incident “has been viewed as a serious scheduling incident having significant safety ramifications”, referring to a rostering lapse on the part of Air India.
The DGCA imposed a fine of ₹6 lakh on the airline’s director of operations, Pankul Mathur, and ₹3 lakh on the director of flight training, Manish Vasavada. It has also suspended permission for Mr. Vasavada to hold the post of director of training for six months.
A junior pilot who has not yet been released for flying can only be assigned cockpit duties along with a line training captain, a type rating instructor, or a designated examiner.
In the July 9 incident, the trainee pilot was supposed to operate the Mumbai-Riyadh flight with a training captain. However, the training captain fell ill and rostering replaced him with a non-training captain.
The two pilots realised the goof-up on the part of the scheduling department only mid-flight and filed a voluntary report after landing in Riyadh.
The regulator said that during an investigation it found several lapses, but did not go into the details.
“It was prima facie revealed that there are deficiencies and multiple violations to the regulatory provisions by several post holders and staff, which could significantly affect safety,” it said.
