DGCA sends notices to Air India over breaching safety standards, airline to respond

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) sent notices to Air India in the last one year for breaching safety standards related to crew fatigue management and training, and the airline said on Thursday it “will respond to the said notices within the stipulated period”.

The notices by the aviation regulator criticised the airline, which self-reported the problems, for repeated failures in safety compliance, saying it could face enforcement action.

In a statement, the airline said it “acknowledges receipt of these notices from the regulator related to certain voluntary disclosures that were made over the last one year by Air India”.

“We will respond to the said notices within the stipulated period. We remain committed to the safety of our crew and passengers,” said an Air India spokesperson.

The notices asked the airline to bring its attention to pilots not being given mandatory rest and poor compliance with simulator training requirements, among other issues.

According to one of the notices, despite repeated warnings and enforcement action of non-compliance in the past, “systemic issues related to compliance monitoring, crew planning, and training governance remain unresolved”.

The DGCA last week instructed airlines to carry out checks on the locking mechanism of fuel control switches of Boeing aircraft in their fleets. The move comes in the wake of the preliminary investigation report into last month’s tragic Air India Boeing Dreamliner crash at Ahmedabad, in which 260 people were killed.

One of the key findings of the Air Accidents Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary report on the crash was that the twin engines of the ill-fated Boeing plane shut down seconds after take-off as the fuel supply was cut off.

Meanwhile, Air India said it completed precautionary inspections on the fuel control switch (FCS) locking mechanisms of all Boeing 787 and Boeing 737 aircraft in its fleet. The airline stated that no problems were found during the checks, which were conducted in line with safety directives issued by the DGCA.

–IANS