Regulator suspends IndiGo's security training courses'

The airline has 126 aircraft and more than a 40% share of the aviation market

Indigo, the country’s largest airline, cannot provide security training to its crew now as the license of its centre tasked with this job has been suspended by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the regulator in the field. 

The airline has 126 aircraft and more than a 40 per cent share of the aviation market.

The move comes after the regulator found that the airline was allegedly violating the mandatory process of such training courses. It is imperative for an airline to impart six-day security training to its pilots and cabin crew because often they are the first to react in the case of a hijacking or bomb threat.

“We found that the aviation safety course of IndiGo was violating norms. Instead of a computerised exam, which is mandatory, it was replaced with written tests without approval from the authority. Moreover, the questions had been repeated over the last eight courses that the airline imparted,” BCAS Director General Kumar Rajesh Chandra told Business Standard.

Chandra said for successive courses, candidates were scoring more than 90 per cent, which aroused the suspicion of the regulator.

IndiGo said in a statement: “We are in discussion with BCAS and are confident of demonstrating compliance with all regulatory requirements to the satisfaction of BCAS.”

“We would like to clarify that this discussion pertains to only one course and that is aviation security training. All other training is continuing as scheduled,” the airline further said.