Aviation regulator orders Air India to remove officials
New Delhi's civil aviation regulator has ordered Air India to remove three officials from their roles over "systemic failures", according to a directive seen by AFP Saturday, as the carrier comes under scrutiny after a deadly crash.
The instruction from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) did not detail whether it was linked to the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad, which killed all but one of the 242 people on board. At least 38 others on the ground were killed.
The DGCA directive noted that the airline's voluntary disclosures "point to systemic failures in crew scheduling, compliance monitoring, and internal accountability".
"Of particular concern is the absence of strict disciplinary measures against key officials directly responsible for these operational lapses," said the order, which was issued on Friday.
"These officials have been involved in serious and repeated lapses," it said.
The regulator has directed Air India to remove three officials named in the order "from all roles and responsibilities related to crew scheduling", take disciplinary action, and report on steps taken within 10 days.
Future violations could also result in "licence suspension".
The airline said on Saturday it had implemented the order.
"Air India is committed to ensuring that there is total adherence to safety protocols and standard practices," it said in a statement.
Investigators are attempting to find out what caused the airline's London-bound plane to hurtle to the ground moments after takeoff in Ahmedabad.
Air India said on Thursday that the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane was "well-maintained" and that the pilots were accomplished flyers.
The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have been recovered from the crash site.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Tribune
a day ago
- Daily Tribune
Aviation regulator orders Air India to remove officials
New Delhi's civil aviation regulator has ordered Air India to remove three officials from their roles over "systemic failures", according to a directive seen by AFP Saturday, as the carrier comes under scrutiny after a deadly crash. The instruction from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) did not detail whether it was linked to the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad, which killed all but one of the 242 people on board. At least 38 others on the ground were killed. The DGCA directive noted that the airline's voluntary disclosures "point to systemic failures in crew scheduling, compliance monitoring, and internal accountability". "Of particular concern is the absence of strict disciplinary measures against key officials directly responsible for these operational lapses," said the order, which was issued on Friday. "These officials have been involved in serious and repeated lapses," it said. The regulator has directed Air India to remove three officials named in the order "from all roles and responsibilities related to crew scheduling", take disciplinary action, and report on steps taken within 10 days. Future violations could also result in "licence suspension". The airline said on Saturday it had implemented the order. "Air India is committed to ensuring that there is total adherence to safety protocols and standard practices," it said in a statement. Investigators are attempting to find out what caused the airline's London-bound plane to hurtle to the ground moments after takeoff in Ahmedabad. Air India said on Thursday that the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane was "well-maintained" and that the pilots were accomplished flyers. The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have been recovered from the crash site.
Gulf Insider
a day ago
- Gulf Insider
Flying Fatalities Are Extremely Rare
Investigations into the cause of last week's deadly Air India plane crash are currently underway, with the cockpit voice recorder in the plane's second black box having now been recovered. All but one of the 242 people aboard the Air India 171 flight bound for London-Gatwick on June 12 were killed soon after it took off from India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad. At least 29 people on the ground also perished as the plane crashed into the campus of a medical college. Trainee doctors and students who were there at the time rushed to save their colleagues. Despite the heavy scrutiny Boeing has come under in the past year for the safety issues of its other planes, last week marked the first time a Boeing 787 has crashed in its 16-year history. As Statista's Anna Fleck reports, according to data published by the World Bank and Our World in Data shows that while these disasters do happen, they are extremely rare and commercial aviation has become far safer over the decades. In 2023, there were 0.03 fatalities per million passengers, or in other words, three deaths per 100 million. According to this data, 2023 was the second safest year since records began, following only after 2017 when 0.01 deaths per million passengers were recorded.
Daily Tribune
4 days ago
- Daily Tribune
Israel military raids West Bank camps
AFP |Ramallah, Palestinian Territories Israeli troops raided two Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank's north overnight, the military told AFP, as Israel presses offensives on multiple fronts. The military told AFP that at "around 4:00 am Israeli forces entered Balata camp", near the northern city of Nablus, for "a routine counter-terrorism operation". It added that the troops had been deployed to the nearby Askar camp prior to the operation in Balata camp. Imad Zaki, head of the popular services committee of Balata camp, also told AFP that the military began its raid at 4:00 am (0100 GMT) on Wednesday. "They closed all entrances to the camp, seized several homes after evicting their residents, and ordered the homeowners not to return for 72 hours. These homes were turned into military outposts and interrogation centres," Zaki said. "The soldiers are conducting house-to-house and neighbourhood-to-neighbourhood searches, destroying the contents of homes and physically assaulting the residents," Zaki told AFP. He added that life had been "largely paralysed" for the camp's residents but that no injuries were reported. In a separate statement, the military said that its forces had "neutralised" one Palestinian overnight in the West Bank village of Al-Walaja near Jerusalem. They said that as the troops were deployed in the area, a Palestinian armed with a knife "attempted to stab (Israeli) soldiers who were operating in the area and steal their weapons". "The soldiers responded with fire and neutralised the terrorist," the army said, using a term it normally uses when someone has been killed. The Israeli military said Tuesday that its forces had been active in various parts of the Jenin area, in the northern West Bank. It said in a statement that its forces had arrested five Palestinian militants suspected of planning attacks on Israel. Throughout the Gaza war, violence in the West Bank -- a separate Palestinian territory -- has soared, as have calls to annex it, most notably from Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Since the start of the war in October 2023, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 939 Palestinians, including many militants, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Over the same period, at least 35 Israelis including civilians and soldiers have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids, according to official Israeli figures.
