look news india
The Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday imposed a fine of Rs 80 lakh on Air India for non-compliance with rules related to Flight Duty Time Limit (FDTL). The purpose of this process is to provide adequate rest time to pilots.
The regulator said it audited Air India in January to see if the airline complied with FDTL and Fatigue Management System (FMS) norms. During this period, data and reports were examined on a large scale. It has been revealed that in some cases, Air India has operated flights with both flight crew above 60 years of age, in violation of sub-rule (2) of Rule 28A of the Civil Aviation Rules, 1937. According to this, only one of the two pilots of a flight can be above 60 years of age.
The DGCA said the operator was also found to lack adequate weekly rest, rest before and after ultra-long range (ULR) flights, which is in violation of mandatory provisions of civil aviation. Apart from this, cases of exceeding duty period, wrongly marked training records and overlapping duties were also found during the audit. After this, the regulator sent a show cause notice to the airline on March 1. Due to lack of satisfactory response from the operator, a fine of Rs 80 lakh has been imposed.
DGCA will implement new rules from June 1
DGCA issued a new set of FDTL rules on January 8, which will come into effect from June 1. The new rules include additional rest for pilots, changes to night duty rules and instructions to airlines to submit pilot fatigue reports. Major airlines like Air India and IndiGo have protested against the new rules, but the regulator has refused to raise the limit.