New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday slapped a fine of Rs 80 lakh on Air India for breaching regulations related to Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) and fatigue management system (FMS) for flight crew, media reports said.
DGCA took the action after a spot audit on Air India Limited in January to assess adherence to regulations.
Fleet-wise random reports were scrutinized by the DGCA during the audit process.
According to the aviation regulator, evidence indicates that the airline operated "flight(s) with both flight crew aged above 60 years flying together in a few instances."
This led to the breach of Sub Rule (2) of Rule 28 A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937.
"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 regulatory body sent a show cause notice to Air India regarding the matter.
The aviation watchdog stated that the fine was imposed because the response provided by the airline to the show cause notice was deemed unsatisfactory.
Following the unsatisfactory response given by the operator, a penalty of Rs 80,00,000 has been imposed on the operator, the release said.
The airline was also found to have overlapping duties and inaccurately marked training records among the issues identified.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
