Fully transparent with audits during safety review, says Air India
The Tata Group-promoted Air India said on Tuesday that it has been “fully transparent” with auditors during the annual Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) safety review held in July. The airline’s statement comes after the DGCA shared 51 findings with Air India post the audit.
Notably, the annual audit was not related to the Boeing 787 crash that occurred last month in Ahmedabad.
“All airlines undergo regular audits to test and continuously strengthen processes. Air India’s annual DGCA audit took place in July, during which it was fully transparent with auditors in the spirit of such continuous improvement,” said an Air India spokesperson.
“We acknowledge receipt of the findings and will submit our response to the regulator within the stipulated time frame, along with the details of the corrective actions taken.”
According to Reuters, the DGCA, in a 11-page report, noted several Level I breaches. These need to be fixed by July 30, while 44 non-compliances would be required to be resolved by August 23.
Speaking to businessline, industry sources cited that Air India has completed corrective actions on the Level I findings.
The audit report found recurrent training gaps for some unspecified Boeing 787 and 777 pilots, saying they had not completed their monitoring duties — where they don’t fly but observe the functioning of instruments in the cockpit —ahead of mandatory periodic evaluations.
Besides, the DGCA report, flagged operational and safety risks, stating that Air India did not do “proper route assessments” for Category C airports.
They said that Air India conducted training operating flights to and from Category C airports with simulators that did not meet qualification standards.
Furthermore, the DGCA had earlier flagged concerns about Air India pilots breaching the limits of their flight-duty periods.
In addition, the regulator has previously criticised the airline’s rostering system, which has led to lapses such as the deployment of a lesser number of crew members than required for some flights.
At present, the Tata Group-owned airline has been issued notices for operating aircraft without checking emergency equipment, not changing engine parts in time, and forging records, along with other lapses related to crew fatigue management.
Published on July 29, 2025
