India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued Air India (AI, Delhi International) and two of its senior managers with fines totalling INR990,000 rupees (USD11,800) for operating a flight with non-qualified crew members. The regulator said the incident could have had "significant safety ramifications."
According to the DGCA, a July 9, 2024, Air India flight from Mumbai International to Riyadh was set to be operated by a training captain with a trainee pilot. However, the captain called in sick and instead of putting another training captain onto the flight, the airline substituted in a regular captain, contrary to regulations. The pilots became aware of the issue during the flight, which they reported to the airline, which in turn self-reported to the DGCA.
"Air India Limited operated a flight commanded by a non-trainer line captain paired with a non-line-released first officer, which has been viewed by the regulator as a serious scheduling incident having significant safety ramifications," the DGCA said in a statement on August 23.
"Based on investigations, it was prima facie revealed that there are deficiencies and multiple violations to the regulatory provisions by several post holders and staff,” the statement added. "The DGCA has imposed a financial penalty of INR900,000 [USD10,800] on Air India. In addition, penalties of INR60,000 [USD715] and INR30,000 [USD358], respectively, are imposed on the Director of Operations [Pankul Mathur] and Director of Training [Manish Vasavada] of Air India." The authority also issued a warning but no fines to the pilots.
ch-aviation has contacted Air India for comment.
