The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday suspended Air India's flight safety chief Rajiv Gupta for a month. DGCA had investigated Air India's internal audit, accident prevention work and presence of technical staff on July 25 and 26.
The investigation found shortcomings in Air India's accident prevention work. Apart from this, Air India also did not have the necessary technical staff. Due to these shortcomings, DGCA took action against Air India. DGCA is the body that oversees the aviation industry.
DGCA has already taken action against Air India. Last month, DGCA had suspended the ATO approval of Air India's training centers in Mumbai and Hyderabad for 10 days. Then DGCA had found some shortcomings in simulator training.
After this, DGCA came to know that the internal checks/spot checks conducted by Air India were negligent and were not as per the rules.
DGCA said that after reviewing the action taken report submitted by the airline, show cause notices were sent to the concerned authorities. Based on their responses, DGCA directed Air India not to give audit/spot check work to the erring auditor.
In February this year, DGCA had directed to remove the training head of AIX Connect. He was suspended for 3 months for violating rules related to pilot training. AIX Connect is a subsidiary of Air India. It was earlier known as Air Asia India. A fine of Rs 20 lakh was also imposed on the airline and Rs 3 lakh on 8 auditors.
