E-Paper
DGCA suspends Air India’s flight safety chief over lapses
The DGCA said that it had observed that some of the internal audit/spot checks claimed to be carried out by Air India were done in a perfunctory manner and not as per regulatory requirements
Aviation regulator DGCA said on Thursday it suspended the chief of flight safety at Air India for a month after uncovering “deficiencies” in Air India’s accident prevention work, as well as unavailability of qualified personnel.
A spokesperson for Air India said the airline acknowledges the “failure of one of our audit staff to fully comply with the process and documentation requirements”
The lapses were found by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in an audit conducted in July. “DGCA team carried out the surveillance of Air India on 25th and 26th July 2023 in the areas of internal audit, accident prevention work and availability of required technical man power…found deficiencies in the accident prevention work carried out by the organisation and the availability of the requisite technical manpower as required in the approved Flight Safety Manual and the relevant Civil Aviation Requirements.’
Therefore, the regulator said, “the approval of chief of flight safety of Air India has been suspended for a period of one month for the lapses established”.
“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,” an Air India spokesperson said.
“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,” the 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 company representative added.
The DGCA said that it had observed that some of the internal audit/spot checks claimed to be carried out by Air India were done in a perfunctory manner and not as per regulatory requirements. The airline was thus asked to submit an action taken report.
After receiving this report, the DGCA issued show-cause notices to the concerned post holders.
