Air India faces DGCA action over crew safety violations; Suspends airline's head of crew rostering

India's civil
aviation regulator
has pulled up
Air India
for serious and repeated violations of crew safety norms, ordering the removal of three senior officials, head of crew rostering, from their positions in the airline's scheduling department.
The aviation watchdog has asked the Tata Group-owned airline to initiate internal disciplinary proceedings against these officials without delay. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (
DGCA
) has identified Choorah Singh, Divisional Vice President, Pinky Mittal, Chief Manager - DOPS, Crew Scheduling, and Payal Arora, Crew Scheduling - Planning directly, responsible for the continued non-compliance.
The action comes after Air India voluntarily disclosed that flight crew were being scheduled and operated in violation of licensing, flight duty time, and rest period regulations, key requirements for flight safety.
DGCA, in a letter issued on June 20, said the violations were uncovered during a post-transition audit following the airline's shift from the ARMS platform to the CAE Flight and Crew Management System.
A long-haul Bangalore to London flight saw pilots operating beyond their legally permissible flight duty hours, breaching the prescribed safety limits.
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