The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on June 20 issued an order to three senior officials in Air India, and instructed the airline to remove the officials from all roles and responsibilities related to crew scheduling and rostering. More trouble for the airline arises as the repeated and serious violations were voluntarily disclosed by the airline concerning flight crew being scheduled and operated despite lapses in licensing, rest and recency requirements. The three officials who are addressed in the order include the divisional vice president.

According to the DGCA’s regulations, pilots who are operating a cockpit together must qualify specific criteria to be paired together, such as the total number of flying hours meeting the minimum set by the DGCA. And the crew has to be scheduled following the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms, which are set to provide the crew proper rest before their next flight.

The DGCA has also given directions to the airline to have internal disciplinary proceedings against the officials without delay, and report back to the DGCA with the outcome within 10 days from the date of issue of the letter. The DGCA warned, “Any future violations of crew scheduling norms, licensing, or flight time limitations detected in any post-audit or inspection, will attract strict enforcement action, including but not limited to penalties, licence suspension, or withdrawal of operator permission as applicable.”