India aviation watchdog finds 263 lapses at Indian airlines in annual audit

NEW DELHI: India’s aviation regulator said on Wednesday it had found 263 safety-related lapses at the country’s airlines, including 23 at the largest carrier IndiGo and 51 at the second largest Air India, as part of its regular annual audit.

The audits were carried out as part of International Civil Aviation Organization requirements and global best practices, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Wednesday, cautioning that higher number of findings are normal for airlines with bigger fleet sizes.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that DGCA had found 51 safety lapses at Air India in its July audit, including lack of adequate training for some pilots, use of unapproved simulators and a poor rostering system. The audit was not related to the deadly Boeing 787 crash last month that killed 260 people in Ahmedabad.

Air India Dreamliner returns to Hong Kong after technical issue mid-air, source says

The DGCA said it had also found 14 deficiencies at SpiceJet and 17 at Vistara, which is now part of Air India. The regulator found 25 lapses at Air India Express, Air India’s budget carrier. Akasa Air is yet to be audited.

The regulator did not detail what kind of lapses were found but divided the list of breaches into “Level I”, which are significant breaches, and “Level II”, which are other non-compliances. In total, 19 “Level I” breaches were found at Indian airlines, the DGCA said.