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NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a fine of Rs 80 lakh on Air India for violating regulations pertaining to Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) and fatigue management system (FMS) of flight crew. “As a proactive step towards ensuring a high level of safety in aviation,” the regulator says it had conducted a spot audit of AI this January for “verifying the regulatory compliance by the operator in respect of FDTL and FMS regulations.” Air India has been fined by the regulator several times in the 1.5 years for various lapses.
Following the audit, the DGCa found some violations like both pilots operating a flight being over 60 years of age. “The operator (AI) was also found deficient in providing adequate weekly rest, adequate rest before & after ultra-long range (ULR) flights and adequate rest on layover to flight crew, which violates the extant provisions of the Civil Aviation Requirements pertaining to FDTL. Moreover, the instances of exceeding duty periods, wrongly marked training records, overlapping duties etc. were also observed during the audit,” said an official.
After the audit, the regulator has served a show cause notice to AI on March 1, seeking their response to the findings of the audit. “The operator submitted its response to the notice which was not found satisfactory… a fine of Rs 80 lakh has been imposed on the operator,” the regulator said, adding, “DGCA is committed to maintaining the highest levels of safety in the civil aviation sector in India and this enforcement action is in line with its commitment.”
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