DGCA orders suspension of two Akasa Air directors over ’failure to ensure compliance’ in pilots’ training | Company Business News

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on 27 December ordered the suspension of two Akasa Air pilots over ‘pilot training lapses’ for six months, reported PTI. The director of operations and director of training for the airlines had allegedly ‘failed’ to ensure “compliances” with the civil aviation requirements.

“The two senior executives of the airline, in which the Rakesh Jhunjhunwala family holds stakes, have “failed” to ensure “compliances” with the civil aviation requirements,” Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in its order of December 27.

“We will continue to work with the DGCA and comply accordingly. Safety is of utmost importance, and we continuously strive to pursue the highest standards of safety,” ANI quoted an Akasa Air Spokesperson as saying.

Previous other cases:

Earlier on 24 December, the DGCA slapped a ₹10 lakh penalty on Akasa Air for failing to provide compensation on time to some passengers who were denied boarding at the Bangalore airport in September.

Over two-and-a-half-year-old airline has come under the scanner of the aviation regulator for certain alleged violations. In December only, some pilots had also flagged concerns about training at the carrier, which has termed the allegations as baseless.

The DGCA’s penalty pertains to the denial of boarding of seven passengers who had booked a flight from Bangalore to Pune on 6 September.

According to the PTI report, the Akasa Air flight was grounded on account of foreign object damage and the replacement aircraft had nine non-operational seats as a result of which seven passengers were denied boarded.

After some chaos, these passengers were moved to an Indigo flight with a scheduled departure time of 2240 hours which was more than one hour of the scheduled departure time of the actual Akasa flight.

The source said that no compensation was paid to the passengers which was non-compliance with DGCA norms.

Airline’s response:

An airline spokesperson on Tuesday said it has received an order from the DGCA.

“We continue to work closely with the DGCA to address this matter and enhance our protocols as required by the regulator,” the spokesperson said in a statement.