Air India has been issued a blistering warning from India’s aviation watchdog criticising “systemic failures” and ordering three company executives to be removed from their roles. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the airline had committed “repeated and serious violations” linked to pilot duty scheduling on two instances unrelated to the crash that killed all but one of the 242 people onboard earlier this month. The DGCA directed Air India to remove a divisional vice president, a chief manager of crew scheduling and a planning executive from their crew scheduling positions after “lapses” linked to flights from Bengaluru to London on May 16 and May 17, government directives seen by Reuters revealed.
During the two instances, pilots exceeded their 10-hour maximum flight duty limit, signalling a breach of safety regulations. The order, which comes amid increased scrutiny of the airline following the devastating crash on June 12, uncovered “systemic failures in scheduling protocol and oversights”, with insufficient disciplinary action taken against those responsible.
It was also reported this week that Air India had received a warning from authorities after three of its Airbus planes took off despite being overdue for checks on emergency escape slides.
Reacting to the latest directive, a spokesperson for Air India said the order had been implemented and pledged a commitment to “ensuring that there is total adherence to safety protocols and standard practices”.
The DGCA reportedly stated in its order that Air India had voluntarily supplied information about the violations.
The Tata Group-owned airline was in the final stages of a brand transformation after years of complaints about delays and poor service standards when a London-bound plane crashed shortly after take-off in Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 241 people onboard, 52 of whom were British, and at least 29 on the ground.
It was one of the deadliest plane accidents in recent history, and had just one survivor – Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who had been travelling back to the UK with his brother.
While investigators have yet to uncover the cause of the crash, experts from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau are working to ascertain what went wrong in the seconds after the Boeing 787 Dreamliner became airborne, alongside US and UK authorities.
The aircraft operator has cancelled, diverted or delayed dozens of flights in the days following the incident, after the DGCA ordered additional safety checks on its Being 787 fleet as a “preventative measure”.
Air India also said it would temporarily reduce flights on 16 international routes and suspend journeys to three overseas destinations until July 15.