Systemic Failures In Crew Management, Compliance Monitoring And Internal Accountability: DGCA To Air India

Air India’s flight crew were not managed properly, said India’s Aviation watchdog DGCA while ordering the company to remove its three officials, including a divisional vice president, from all roles and responsibilities related to crew scheduling and rostering over serious lapses.

In its order of June 20, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also directed the airline to initiate proceedings against these three officials without delay. “Air India is directed to remove the above-mentioned officials from all roles and responsibilities related to crew scheduling and rostering,” ordered the DGCA. It also demanded internal disciplinary proceedings against these officials and the outcome of these proceedings must be reported to the DGCA within ten days after the order is issued.

The DGCA’s order said that pilot fatigue caused due to inconsistency were discovered during a post-transition review from ARMS to the CEA Flight and Crew Management System.

The civil aviation authority issued a Show Cause Notice to Air India stating that two flights operated from Bangalore to London (AI133) on May 16 and 17, 2025 exceeded the stipulated flight time of 10 hours. The notice was issued against the Accountable Manager of Air India to show cause within seven days as to “why appropriate action should not be initiated against them under the applicable provisions of the Aircraft Rules and Civil Aviation Requirements for the aforementioned violations.”

The order highlighted management failure 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 lapses,” the order read. 

The Air India officials identified by the DGCA as being responsible for the continued non-compliance include Divisional Vice President Choorah Singh, Chief Manager (DOPS and Crew Scheduling) Pinky Mittal, and Payal Arora (Crew Scheduling - Planning). The security lapses mentioned include unauthorized non-compliant crew pairings, violation of mandatory licensing and recency norms and systemic failure in scheduling protocol and oversight. The order mentioned that the lapses may not be limited to those mentioned in the order.

The DGCA also said that, “any further 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, license suspension or withdrawal or operator permissions as applicable.”

The civil aviation authority has been conducting inspections of Air India’s fleet since the June 12 plane crash in Ahmedabad. The DGCA had earlier warned Air India for breaching safety rules after three of its Airbus planes flew despite being overdue for checks on emergency equipment, according to government documents. In one case, the aviation watchdog found that the inspection of Airbus A320 was delayed by more than a month before being carried out on May 15.