Air India pilots face DGCA ire for reporting late

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently issued show-cause notices to a little over two and a half dozen Air India pilots for reporting late. The regulator said they did not follow regulations and the airline’s operation manual on reporting time, adding that was tantamount to a violating safety. Pilots, however, contend this might be outside DGCA’s remit.

DGCA sent the notice after surprise checks at Mumbai and Delhi airports earlier this month. Last month, it sent a notice to a Jet Airways pilot for being late by 10 minutes. This comes in the wake of the Air India management’s move to cut salaries of staff responsible for flight delays. The management had issued a circular, following instructions from the civil aviation ministry. Air India has the worst record on punctuality in the sector, with only 52 per cent on-time performance.

An Air India spokesperson said, “We are looking into the matter and will take necessary action as deemed fit.” Jet Airways had not replied to an email query at the time of going to press.

DGCA’s regulations stipulate the crew report 45 minutes before departure, to complete the safety-related functions due before flights. These include pre-flight briefing (where pilots do a status check on weather, fuel uplift, etc), breath analysis, aircraft inspection and pre-flight departure checks in the cockpit.

Airlines set their reporting time for the staff in accordance with DGCA’s regulations. For Air India, the reporting time for pilots is 45 minutes before flights.

During its inspections, DGCA officials found pilots were reporting only about half an hour before departure. “In some instances, pre-flight briefings were not being properly carried out and proper records were not kept. The reporting time has been set so that pilots carry out all safety-related tasks in time and do not rush with it,” an official said.

The official added it was not unusual for the regulator to issue notices directly to pilots. Pilots are issued licences by DGCA and, hence, the notice was sent directly to them. The airline management, too, has been intimated of this action, the official added. The DGCA notice said “suitable action” would be taken in case the pilot did not reply.

The DGCA action has not gone down well with pilots though. “We think DGCA is overstepping its mandate. Show-cause notices have been issued even when flights departed on time or before time. The DGCA action has put the pilots under stress. Why are we being singled out?” a captain complained. “Show-cause has been issued to pilot who had reported even a minute late.”

Captain Praveen Keerthi, general secretary, Indian Commercial Pilots Association, said, “We are willing to cooperate with DGCA and are issuing instructions to pilots to report exact 45 minutes before departure and not earlier. The management should also increase number of doctors at airports so that breath-analyser checks are carried in time and there are no flight delays.”