DGCA finds Air India response on crew duty time violations unsatisfactory; warns to ensure compliance

New Delhi: The Civil aviation regulator DGCA has warned Air India's Accountable Manager and CEO Campbell Wilson after finding the airline's response as "unsatisfactory" to the show cause notice issued in relation to flight duty time violations by the crew of two long-haul flights that were operated in May, sources said on Wednesday.

Campbell, who is the CEO and MD, is also the Accountable Manager of the Tata Group-owned airline.

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"Air India is in receipt of the DGCA letter with regard to rostering issues on two long-haul flights reported in mid-May that arose due to a different interpretation of a permission that was granted to mitigate the border-related airspace closure. This was corrected immediately after the right interpretation was conveyed to us. Air India remains fully compliant with the rules," an airline spokesperson told PTI.

In its order, dated August 11, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said, "... Accountable Manager of M/s Air India Ltd. is hereby warned and advised to exercise utmost diligence and responsibility in ensuring strict compliance with the applicable Civil Aviation requirements."

The DGCA in June this year issued a show-cause notice to the airline for breaching the "flight duty time limitation" of the crew during two long-haul flights between Bengaluru and London on May 16 and 17.

Both flights had exceeded the 10-hour duty limit allowed under the DGCA regulations.

The DGCA in the show-cause notice said that the airline's accountable manager failed to ensure compliance with these regulations and asked Air India to explain within seven days why action should not be taken against it.

"The reply submitted by Air India in response to the Show Cause Notice has been duly examined and found to be unsatisfactory in addressing the regulatory lapses and deficiencies noted," the aviation safety regulator said in its order.

In the past year, there have been a total of 93 audit findings with Air India (along with now merged Vistara) and Air India Express, as per recent DGCA data.

These findings included 19 level-1 violations, which are considered critical safety risks and require immediate corrective action by the air operator.

DGCA has come across 263 lapses, including those requiring immediate corrective actions, during 23 audits of eight domestic airlines carried out during the period, the safety regulator had said last month.

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