India’s aviation regulator has found “repeated and serious violations” by Air India relating to crew scheduling and directed it to remove from their positions three senior officials involved in rostering and scheduling.

Apart from this, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also issued a show-cause notice to Air India for violating the flight duty time limitations (FDTL) for crew. Both orders were issued on Friday.

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Flight duty time limitations are meant to ensure that pilots and flight attendants get enough rest so that any fatigue-related safety issues are averted.

In March 2024, Air India was fined ₹80 lakh for violating “regulations pertaining to FDTL and fatigue management system of flight crew”.

“Any future violation 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 permissions as applicable,” Friday’s DGCA order warned Air India.

An Air India spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the regulator’s directive and have implemented the order. In the interim, the company’s Chief Operations Officer will provide direct oversight to the Integrated Operations Control Centre (where all flight planning is managed).”

The systemic lapses in crew scheduling came to light when the aviation watchdog reviewed the software platform designed to manage crew rostering and flight planning.

As for the show-cause notice, it was issued after the DGCA noticed that Air India had operated two flights from Bangalore to London on May 16 and 17, both of which exceeded the stipulated flight time limit of 10 hours.

The regulator said the accountable manager had violated the norms of Civil Aviation Requirements.

It asked Air India to explain within seven days why appropriate action should not be initiated against the airline, failing which the regulator might decide the matter ex-parte, based on available evidence.

Air India had voluntarily disclosed the scheduling lapses but had not taken strict disciplinary measures against the officials responsible.

The aviation watchdog asked the carrier to initiate internal disciplinary proceedings against the three erring officials — a divisional vice-president, a chief manager of crew scheduling, and a planning executive.

The DGCA said the outcome of the internal disciplinary proceedings must be reported to them within 10 days.

The regulator also asked the airline to deploy the erring officials in non-operational roles until scheduling practices had been reformed. It specified that until further notice, the three officials would not hold any position that might directly influence flight safety and crew compliance.

The DGCA’s latest steps against Air India are unrelated to the June 12 crash of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in Ahmedabad. However, they signal that the airline, which the Tata group took over in 2022, is under the security scanner of government agencies.

IndiGo flight diverted

An IndiGo flight from Guwahati to Chennai was diverted but landed safely at Bengaluru airport after the pilot issued a “Mayday” call due to insufficient fuel.

According to sources, the IndiGo flight was forced to divert to Bengaluru on June 19 after the pilot issued the distress call.

The flight, which departed from Guwahati airport at 4.45pm had run out of fuel. After the pilot sent out the “Mayday” call, the flight was diverted to Bengaluru. The reason behind the low fuel is still unknown.

The flight, however, safely landed at Bengaluru airport at 8.15pm, and after two hours, took off from Bengaluru for Chennai and made a safe landing.