Air India gets ₹90 lakh fine for unqualified crew on Mumbai-Riyadh flight

Air India received a ₹90 lakh fine from India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation due to operating a Mumbai-Riyadh flight with an unqualified crew member on July 9, says the Hindu.

This is the 8th penalty imposed on the airline by the DGCA since January 2023, totalling ₹4.45 crore.

The latest fine follows a voluntary report submitted by Air India after it emerged that a junior pilot who is yet to be released for flying duties was assigned a flight with a captain who was not a trainer.

The regulator, in a press statement, said the incident "has been viewed as a serious scheduling incident having significant safety ramifications", referring to a rostering lapse on the part of Air India.

The DGCA imposed a fine of ₹6 lakh on the airline's director of operations, Pankul Mathur, and ₹3 lakh on the director of flight training, Manish Vasavada. It has also suspended permission for Vasavada to hold the post of director of training for six months.

A junior pilot who has not yet been released for flying can only be assigned cockpit duties along with a line training captain, a type rating instructor, or a designated examiner.

In the July 9 incident, the trainee pilot was supposed to operate the Mumbai-Riyadh flight with a training captain. However, the training captain fell ill and rostering replaced him with a non-training captain.

The two pilots realised the goof-up on the part of the scheduling department only mid-flight and filed a voluntary report after landing in Riyadh.

The regulator said that during an investigation it found several lapses, but did not go into the details.

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