Air India Audit finds 51 safety -falling, from non -good -approved simulators to training holes

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DGCA found 51 security about Air India in the audit in July, including a lack of adequate training for some pilots, the use of non -well -approved simulators and a poor scheduling system, according to a government report seen by Reuters.

The annual audit was not related to the deadly Boeing 787 -Crash last month in which 260 people were killed in Ahmedabad, but the findings come when the airline is confronted with renewed check after the accident.

The airline of Tata Group is already confronted with warning messages for carrying out aircraft without checking emergency equipment, not changing the engine parts on time and forging records, along with others with regard to the management of the crew.

The confidential audit report of 11 pages of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) noted seven “level I” significant infringements that must be determined before July 30 and 44 other non-compliances classified to be resolved on 23 August.

Officials said they found “recurring training gaps” for some non -specific Boeing 787 and 777 pilots, and said they had not completed their monitoring tasks – where they did not fly but the functioning of instruments in the cockpit – for mandatory periodic evaluations.

The Air India fleet comprises 34 Boeing 787S and 23 Boeing 777S, according to the website of Flighttradar24.

Marking operational and security risks, in their report civil servants wrote that Air India has not done “correct route rates” for some so -called category C airports – which can have challenging layouts or site – and given training for such airports with simulators who did not meet the qualifying standards.

“This can take into account the non-acquisition of safety risks during approaches of challenging airports,” said the DGCA audit report.

In a statement to Reuters, Air India said that it was “completely transparent” during the audit. It added that “our response to the regulator will submit within the specified time frame, together with the details of the corrective actions.”

A preliminary report in the June crash showed that the fuel control switches were reversed almost simultaneously after taking off and there was confusion in the cockpit. One pilot asked the other why he cut off the fuel and the other replied that he hadn’t done that, the report said.

The DGCA has often marked the concern about Air India pilots that break the boundaries of their flight periods, and the audit report said that an AI-787 Milan-New Delhi flight last month exceeded the limit by 2 hours and 18 minutes, and called it a “level I” non-compliance.

The audit was carried out by 10 DGCA inspectors and included another four auditors.

It also criticized the scheduled system of the airline, of which it said “does not give hard alert” as a minimum number of crew members was not used on a flight, adding that at least four international flights had flown with insufficient cabin crew.

Tata took over Air India from the government in 2022. Although it has expanded its international network aggressively, it is confronted with persistent complaints from passengers, who often go to social media to display dirty seats, broken armrests, non-operational entertainment systems and dirty cabin areas.

Reuters reported last week that the Senior Executives of Air India, including the director of flight activities of the airline and the director of the training, were sent notifications on 23 July with 29 “Systemic”, so that the airline was ignored for ignoring “repeated” warnings. Air India has said it will respond to the regulator.

The audit report noted that “door controls and equipment controls” showed inconsistency with procedures and there were gaps in training documentation. Furthermore, it said that no main pilots were allocated for Airbus A320 and A350 Fleet.

“This results in a lack of accountability and effective monitoring of flight activities for these aircraft types,” said the report.

Last year, in 23 cases, the airlines warned or fined for safety violations, with 11 with the Air India Group. The biggest fine was $ 127,000 on Air India for “insufficient oxygen on board” during some international flights. (Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Abhijith Ganapavaram; adaptation by Kim Coghill)

Published July 29, 2025