DGCA likely to ground over 130 pilots, 430 crew members of Air India

The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is set to ground over 130 pilots and over 400 cabin crew of Air India.

The DGCA has decided to initiate action against these pilots and crew members largely operating on the Kuwait-Chennai and the Dubai-Goa-Bengaluru sectors as during a surveillance carried out in June it was found that the pilots and crew members had not undergone the mandatory breath analyser tests. With the airline showing no signs of taking steps to prevent such lapses, the DGCA again wrote to the airline on Tuesday giving a deadline of the end of the week, failing which it would be forced to take action.

Considered important from a safety point of view, crew members who test positive in the pre-flight medical check-up or those who refuse to take a breath analyser test are required to be taken off flying duty for at least four weeks and the airline is required to initiate disciplinary proceedings against them. If the breath analyser test cannot be done before a flight takes off then it has to be done after the flight lands on its return.

However, late in the evening, Air India issued a statement giving its interpretation of the law on a breath analyser test which has complicated the issue. Sources indicated that DGCA is interpreting the law to mean that the breath analyser test should be done either before a flight takes off or on its first port of call when it returns to India.

However, the airline management is taking a different interpretation of the law. It said in a statement that the DGCA Civil Aviation Requirement indicates that all scheduled flights originating from destinations outside India, the post-flight breath analyser examination of each flight and cabin crew should be carried out on reaching India. “This has been interpreted by the airline management as a requirement to carry out the post-flight medical after completion of their flight at the final destination,” the statement added. The flight where lapses have been detected originates in Kuwait and goes on to Hyderabad and Chennai and Goa and Chennai on different days of the week. It becomes a daily service between Kuwait and Chennaithough it goes to Goa and Hyderabad on different days of the week before ending in Chennai. The other flight where lapses were detected was the Dubai-Goa-Bengaluru one.

According to the DGCA, action against the pilots and cabin crew is likely to be taken in batches as the operations of the airline could get affected. Air India has between 1,400 and 1,600 pilots and with over 130 being caught by the DGCA almost 10 per cent of the total cockpit crew strength could be affected.

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