DGCA Sanctions Air India After Deadly Crash

India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed Air India to remove three senior officials, including a divisional vice president, from all crew scheduling and rostering duties after finding serious and repeated violations of licensing, rest, and recency rules. The violations, revealed by Air India's voluntary disclosure and subsequent DGCA audits, included crews operating flights beyond legal duty hours and unauthorized crew pairings, with specific reference to two Bangalore to London flights that exceeded the 10-hour duty limit. The DGCA has mandated immediate internal disciplinary action against the officials, outcomes to be reported within 10 days, and has warned Air India of possible severe penalties or even license withdrawal for future noncompliance. These actions follow heightened scrutiny after a recent fatal Air India crash, though the crash details were not specified. Air India has placed its Chief Operations Officer in direct charge of the Integrated Operations Control Centre in response. Investigations into both the crash and the compliance violations are ongoing.