Air India: Fine of lakhs imposed on Air India, hence DGCA took action

DGCA Action: Tata Group-owned Air India has suffered a major setback on Friday. Aviation sector regulator DGCA has imposed a fine of Rs 80 lakh on him for violating the rules made to prevent flight duty timing and crew fatigue. 

Flight duty timing and crew related rules were violated

DGCA has said in its order that the spot audit of Air India Limited was done in January, 2024. It was found that the airline was violating rules related to flight duty timing and crew. Flight crews are not being given adequate rest before and after long haul flights and during layovers. Many such cases were also found in the audit, where pilots worked more than their duty time. Earlier in February, DGCA had imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India after the death of an 80-year-old passenger. Apart from this, in January, a fine of Rs 1.10 crore was imposed on Air India for violating safety rules.

Show cause notice was issued on March 1 

According to DGCA, a show cause notice was issued to Air India on March 1, 2024. This fine has been imposed after not getting a proper response. In January, DGCA had changed the rules related to flight duty time for flight crew. In this, weekly rest was reduced to 48 hours, night hours were increased and night landing was reduced from 6 to 2. Before changing the rules, various stakeholders including airline operators and pilots association were discussed. 

Know what are the new rules of DGCA 

1. Under the new rules, the weekly rest period was increased from 36 hours to 48 hours so that the flight crew can get adequate rest. 
2. The definition of night was changed. Now the time from 12 midnight to 6 am has been brought under night duty. Earlier this time was only till 5 in the morning.

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