The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has penalized Air India with a hefty sum of Rs 1.1 crore for violating safety measures on flights. The authorities have fined them for noncompliance with regulations and for compromising the safety of the leased Boeing B777 aircraft. According to the regulator, they received a complaint from a former Air India employee on October 29 regarding the safety violations on flights on the Mumbai/Bengaluru-San Francisco route since November 2022. A detailed investigation resulted in an order from the DGCA.
“Since the investigation prima facie revealed that the airline did not comply with regulations, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a Show Cause Notice to the Accountable Manager of Air India Limited. The DGCA duly examined the response to the Show Cause Notice in light of the established stipulations under the relevant statutory provisions and the performance limits outlined in critical documentation provided by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM),” the DGCA said in the statement.
On January 30, 2023, the complainant, who is a former commander with the air carrier, refused to operate the San Francisco-Bengaluru flight on a leased Boeing B777. Reportedly, he pointed out that the flight did not have adequate storage of breathing oxygen for the particular route. They later gave him a different flight to Bengaluru that he found safe and acceptable. However, Air India later terminated his service, which led him to file a complaint with the DGCA. After a comprehensive investigation, the DGCA found that “said operations of the leased aircraft were not in line with regulatory/OEM performance limits.
Previously, on November 3, 2023, a spokesperson for Air India addressed the accusations and said, ‘Air India and external experts have already examined the multi-dimensional matter in question. We will refrain from offering any comment on this specific case, but we wish to reiterate that the safety of our passengers and crew is our foremost priority, and there is no compromise on the same.” Meanwhile, DGCA had also imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakhs on Air India on January 17, 2024, for not deploying pilots with certain qualifications for operating flights in low-visibility conditions.
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