Air India Hit with ₹90 Lakh Fine for Flying with Unqualified Pilots

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a hefty penalty of ₹90 lakh on Air India, owned by the Tata Group, for operating a flight with unqualified pilots. In addition to this, the aviation regulator has fined Air India's Director of Operations, Pankul Mathur, ₹6 lakh and Director of Training, Manish Vasavada, ₹3 lakh for their role in the incident. The DGCA's actions follow an investigation that revealed serious safety violations and regulatory breaches by the airline.

In a release, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the pilot concerned has been warned to exercise caution to prevent such occurrences in future. "Air India Ltd 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 release said. For the violations, DGCA has imposed a fine of Rs 90 lakh on Air India, Rs 6 lakh on the Director of Operations and Rs 3 lakh on the Director of Training.

After the incident came to its notice through a voluntary report submitted by the airline on July 10, the regulator investigated the operations of the carrier, including examination of documentations and spot check of the scheduling facility.

"Based on investigation, it was prima facie revealed that there are deficiencies and multiple violations of the regulatory provisions by several post holders and staff, which could significantly affect safety," the release said.

DGCA also said the flight's commander and the post holders of the airline were provided an opportunity to explain their position through show cause notices issued on July 22.

The reply submitted by the concerned persons failed to provide satisfactory justification. As such, DGCA has initiated enforcement action in terms of provisions of the extant rules/ regulations and imposed the above penalty, the watchdog noted.