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Air India Under Fire as DGCA Audit Reveals 51 Safety Lapses, Training Gaps, and Operational Failures

In a shocking and unforeseen turn of events, the investigative team from India’s aviation safety agency exposed 51 serious safety violations at Air India including violations for the use of unapproved flight simulators and inadequate recurrent pilot training. Safety compliance and operational integrity at the airline has become a serious concern. These findings come just weeks following the deadly crash of a Boeing 787 in Ahmedabad, killing 260 people and raising scrutiny on the Tata Group-owned airline.  

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) identified seven "Level I" violations that must be fixed by July 30 and 44 Level II violations that must be fixed by August 23. 

Training Gaps: Pilots May Be Unprepared for Critical Situations

The DGCA audit documented recurrent training gaps with Boeing 787 and 777 pilots, with numerous pilots undertaking their cockpit monitoring responsibilities before their required evaluations. The devices that were used for high-risk airport training were also un-accredited, which may have dangerously disadvantaged the safety of the participant's difficult landings.

Pilots are operating without conducting the necessary Category C airport assessments. This failure of performing assessments and evaluating the potential increased risk of landings on challenging runways such as Kathmandu's table-top runway. The DGCA had strongly warned Air India on numerous occasions regarding the fatigued pilot violations of weekly rest requirements which are dangerous. i.e., one Milan-Delhi flight was completed with more than 2 hours exceeding duty times for pilot.

Pressured to Optimize Scheduling & Short-Staffed: Transfers with Bare Minimum Crew 

Air India’s ‘poor scheduling system’ failed to notify the airline when flights were understaffed, resulting in four international flights operating with fewer cabin crew members than agreed upon. The DGCA also noted:  

  • Missing chief pilots for Airbus A320/A350 fleets, which caused a lack of accountability in operations.  
  • Emergency equipment checks were missed on multiple aircraft, a lapse that already legally rose to the tune of US$127,000 in 2024. 

After the Crash: Fallout of 100+ Pilots on Sick Leave: Strike

After the Ahmedabad crash, 100 Air India pilots took sick leave (in one day) without any warning as a reaction to stress and systemic mismanagement. The preliminary report on the crash indicated confusion (lack of comprehension) exists for the fuel switches for the Air India pilots who were trained on the Boeing systems.

EU Investigation: Budget subsidiary Air India Express faces investigations for delayed engine parts replacement;  

Tata's Challenge: Despite US$70B fleet orders, Air India continues to receive complaints about filthy cabins, broken seats, and inoperative toilets.  

Can Air India Avoid Swelling Penalties? 

With Level I fixes due in two days, Air India says they will submit a corrective action plan. Meanwhile, experts are cautioning:   

"This is a repeated violation, mostly ignored," a DGCA official says, referring to 29 earlier violations.

Social media inundated with clips of filthy seats and failing IFE further distributes damage to the recovery campaign.

A Critical Moment for India’s Flag Carrier  

The DGCA audit highlights fundamental safety failures at Air India, providing inconsistencies from training failures to crew fatigue. As regulators seek immediate fixes, the airline’s effort to correct these PR challenges and restore trust will depend on meaningful reforms and commitments to be storytellers. If they cannot, Air India runs the risk of having their ambitions grounded.