DGCA Imposes Rs 1.1 Crore Fine on Air India For Safety Norms Violation

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a penalty of Rs 1.10 crore on Air India for non-compliance of safety norms.

Imposing the fine, DGCA said that following a complaint from an airline employee, it conducted a “comprehensive investigation” into the alleged safety violations by Air India on “certain long-range terrain critical routes”.

The aviation regulator said, “Since the investigation prima facie revealed non-compliance by the airline, a Show Cause Notice was issued to the Accountable Manager of Air India Limited. The response to the Show Cause Notice was duly examined with respect to the laid down stipulations under the relevant statutory provisions and the performance limits stipulated in critical documentations laid down by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).”

Citing that the operations were not in line with the regulatory performance limits, DGCA imposed the penalty and initiated “enforcement action”.

This comes a week after DGCA imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India regarding the rostering of pilots during the onset of foggy weather conditions.

SpiceJet was also fined Rs 30 lakh for the same reason.

The penalty was imposed over failure over failure in complying with instructions issued as per minutes of meeting on low-visibility operations and fog preparedness held on November 6, 2023. Earlier, the aviation regulator had issued a show-cause notice to the airlines for rostering “non-CAT III compliant pilots” during low visibility at the Delhi airport that led to many diversions of Delhi-bound flights.

DGCA — after analysing the flight delay/cancellation/diversion-related data submitted by scheduled airlines for December 2023 — found that Air India and SpiceJet did not roster “CAT II/III and LVTO qualified pilots for some of the flights”, an official said.

In November last year as well, aviation watchdog has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Air India for its failure to comply with norms pertaining to facilities that are required to be provided to passengers.

After inspecting airlines at Delhi, Kochi and Bangalore airports, the regulator observed that Air India was not complying with the provisions of the relevant Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR).