DGCA suspends Air India flight safety chief for a month
The regulator has found deficiencies in the accident prevention work carried out by the airline and it also did not have requisite number of technical staff as required under the flight safety manual and the relevant civil aviation requirements.
New Delhi
The Indian civil aviation regulator has suspended the chief of flight safety at Air India for a month after it discovered several deficiencies in a recent audit of the Tata Group-run airline. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) carried out the surveillance of the full-service carrier on 25-26 July in the areas of internal audit, accident prevention work and availability of required technical staff strength.
As part of the audit, the regulator has found deficiencies in the accident prevention work carried out by the airline and it also did not have requisite number of technical staff as required under the flight safety manual and the relevant civil aviation requirements.
Further it was observed that some of the internal audit or spot checks claimed to be carried out by the airline were done in a perfunctory manner and not as per the regulatory requirements, the regulator has said in a statement.
After reviewing a report submitted by Air India on the action taken, the regulator had issued show cause notice to the concerned officials.
“Based on the review of the replies received, the airline has been directed not to assign any audits/surveillance/spot checks pertaining to compliance of DGCA requirements to the particular auditor involved in the perfunctory inspections which indicates lack of diligence. Further, the approval of Chief of Flight Safety of M/s Air India has been suspended for a period of one month for the lapses established,” the regulator added.
In July, the regulator had imposed a penalty of ₹30 lakh on IndiGo after it found certain systemic deficiencies in the airline’s documentation pertaining to operations, training procedures and engineering procedures.
The regulator had also imposed a financial penalty of ₹20 lakh on Air Aisa India in February earlier this year for violation of applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements related to pilot exercises.
“We acknowledge and accept the DGCA’s finding, and regret the failure of one of our audit staff to fully comply with the process and documentation requirements. Safety is Air India’s highest priority, and we are investing heavily in people, processes and systems to raise Air India’s standards to best practice,” an Air India spokesperson said.
“We are sparing no effort to uplift the culture of safety and diligence to contemporary standards, through clarifying requirements, training and stricter consequence management. We will continue these efforts for as long as is needed to effect the necessary changes,” the spokesperson added.
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First Published:21 Sep 2023, 09:38 PM IST
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