DGCA has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Air India.
We and you often consider air travel as the safest and time-saving option. But just imagine, if the plane in which you are traveling at an altitude of thousands of feet does not have legal permission to fly, then how scary it can be. This is not an imaginary situation, but a reality that happened with the country’s second largest airline, Air India. Air India flew one of its Airbus aircraft without the required ‘fitness certificate’ not once or twice, but eight times. Now the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has taken a strict stance on this mess with the safety of passengers and has imposed a heavy fine on the airline.
DGCA imposed fine of Rs 1 crore on Air India
India’s aviation watchdog i.e. DGCA has imposed a fine of approximately Rs 1 crore 10 lakh ($110,350) on Air India. The matter is of November last year. According to the report, an Airbus A320 aircraft of Air India flew passengers between major cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad between 24 and 25 November. The surprising thing is that during this time the aircraft did not have the mandatory ‘Airworthiness Review Certificate’ (ARC).
Actually, ARC is the most important document of the aircraft which certifies that the aircraft is completely fit and safe to fly. This permit is given every year only after safety and technical investigation by the regulator. In a confidential order of the regulator, it has been clearly stated that this negligence of Air India has further weakened the confidence of the passengers.
This is a complete ‘system failure’ of the airline.
This matter is not just about the absence of a document, but it raises serious questions on the way the airline works. Air India itself has admitted in its internal investigation that this was a “system failure”. The investigation found that the pilots who operated those eight flights did not follow standard operating procedures (SOP) before take-off. If the pilots had checked the checklist properly as per the rules before taking off, perhaps this mistake would have been caught.
The airline has been ordered to deposit the fine amount within 30 days. In this order issued on February 5, DGCA Joint Director General Manish Kumar, while addressing Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, wrote that this has had a negative impact on the safety compliance of the organization. In the order, the CEO has been considered the manager responsible for this lapse.
Tata Group is the owner of Air India
This is a challenging time for Air India, which is now owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines. This incident is also worrying because the regulator has earlier warned the airline for flying aircraft without checking emergency equipment and other audit lapses.
The report also mentions the painful past of Air India when in June last year, 260 people lost their lives when a Boeing Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off. Despite such a serious incident, an unpermitted aircraft flying on a commercial route, that too with passengers on board, is certainly a scary thing. The airline has admitted in its investigation that there is an urgent need to improve its compliance culture, so that the trust of passengers can be won back.
