Page 4 - Dgca

DGCA to meet airlines and pilot bodies on revised crew duty, rest norms

Aviation safety regulator DGCA has convened a meeting with airline operators and pilots' bodies in New Delhi next week to discuss various issues related to the cockpit crew's duty and rest norms following the regulator making certain relaxations, including allowing more night landings and duty time extension for two-pilot Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft operations. The latest flight duty time limitation norms, which entail increased weekly rest periods to 48 hours, extension of night hours, and limiting the number of night landings to only two as against six earlier were initially opposed by the domestic airlines, including IndiGo and Air India. But they were subsequently rolled out by the DGCA following the Delhi High Court's directives, albeit after a delay of over one year and in a phased manner with the first phase in June and second phase this month. "The DGCA has called a meeting on Monday with the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) and Airlines' Pilots Association (ALPA-India)

Airlines and ATCs must report GPS spoofing within 10 minutes: DGCA

Reporting such incidents was already mandatory under a DGCA circular issued in November 2023, but this is the first time the regulator has set a specific deadline for doing so

'No one can blame him': SC tells father of pilot in Air India crash

A two-judge bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition filed by Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, the father of Commander Sumeet Sabharwal, in a case about the Air India crash

Free flight cancellations within 48 hours likely in regulatory reforms

Regulator invites public feedback till November 30 before finalising new refund rules for airlines

ALPA India urges DGCA to enforce full FDTL norms to ensure pilot safety

Earlier this year, DGCA, in its affidavit before the Delhi High Court, said new FDTL norms will be implemented in a phased manner

DGCA defends duty-hour extension for Air India 787 pilots, cites ops needs

The aviation regulator issued the clarification after pilots' body ALPA India urged it to withdraw the relaxation, arguing that the move could lead to fatigue-induced errors

Air India seeks $1.1 bn from owners after crash, airspace restrictions

After facing multiple setbacks, the ailing carrier is far from its goal of achieving operational break-even by the end of March next year and has sought ₹10,000 cr from Tata Sons, Singapore Airlines

DGCA to introduce competency-based training framework for cabin crew

Aviation watchdog DGCA plans to put in place a competency-based training and assessment framework for cabin crew to help in further improve the training imparted to them, according to a senior official. The Competency Based Training and Assessment (CBTA) framework was introduced for pilots in 2022. Shweta Singh, Chief Flight Operations Inspector at the DGCA, told PTI that the regulator is expected to come out with draft norms for the CBTA for the cabin crew in a month. It will be on a voluntary basis for the airlines. She said the efforts are to improve the competencies of the cabin crew. "For example, if there is a fire in the cabin... how will they deal with it? How will they communicate? All those kind of performance indicators (will be) embedded in it (CBTA framework) which will help them to train better," Singh said. She spoke on the sidelines of a conference in the national capital on Thursday. Participating in a session at the conference, IndiGo's Senior Vice President fo

Pilots union accuses DGCA of defying court orders on flight duty time

Federation of Indian Pilots warns of contempt plea after DGCA relaxes night duty limits under new flight duty time norms despite High Court directions

DGCA flags 'repetitive, persistent' procedural lapses in Akasa Air's audit

According to the DGCA's assessment, Akasa's cockpit voice recorder (CVR) checks were repeatedly being marked as "closed" without any analyst comments or evidence of corrective action

Pilots' body welcomes DGCA move to allow private centres for medical tests

Aviation regulator DGCA has decided to empanel private aeromedical evaluation centres for conducting civil aviation medical tests, with the pilots' grouping ALPA India saying the move will streamline pilot medicals, ensure higher efficiency and greater compliance with international norms. Welcoming the decision, the Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA India) said it marks the end of routine civil aviation medicals being conducted at Indian Air Force (IAF) centres. "The move, long advocated by ALPA India, represents a major milestone in the separation of military and civil medical evaluation frameworks, bringing India in line with global aviation best practices. The association had consistently raised concerns about the logistical inconvenience, lack of standardisation, and non-transparent procedures in Air Force medical evaluation," ALPA India said in a release. According to the release, the earlier requirement of undergoing every fifth medical at IAF centres often resulted i

Why has DGCA asked Air India to reinspect RAT on Boeing 787 aircrafts?

The aviation regulator has asked Air India to reinspect Ram Air Turbines on Boeing 787s with replaced PCM modules and sought a preventive action report from Boeing

DGCA slaps ₹40 lakh fine on IndiGo for using unqualified simulators

The DGCA order lists 20 simulators located across training facilities in Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Greater Noida, Gurugram, and Hyderabad

K Rammohan Naidu asks airlines to ensure reasonable fares in festive season

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Friday held a review meeting with officials of airlines to assess their operational and technical performance, and asked them to keep airfares at reasonable levels during the festive season. Representatives of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Akasa Air, Alliance Air, Fly91, FlyBig and IndiaOne Air, among others, participated in the meeting. They presented their performance metrics, including action taken reports on security incidents and passenger grievances, according to an official release. During the meeting with the airline representatives that went on for more than five hours, Naidu emphasised that they should strictly adhere to safety protocols. The periodic meeting also came against the backdrop of two incidents involving Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Naidu asked airlines to adopt best practices in passenger convenience and service quality. "Detailed discussions were held with each airline on identifying ...

Aviation watchdog slaps ₹20 lakh fine on IndiGo for training lapses

IndiGo parent InterGlobe Aviation said it is in the process of contesting the order before an appellate authority and that there has been no material impact on its financials due to the DGCA order

DGCA seeks funding, powers like global peers to strengthen oversight

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGCA, wants authority to independently recruit and offer competitive salaries to attract qualified professionals

DGCA seeks Boeing response after emergency system glitch on Air India jet

The crew of the aircraft - which was flying from the northern Indian city of Amritsar to Birmingham, UK - detected deployment of the power system

DGCA probes Air India Boeing Dreamliner's RAT deployment incident

Aviation watchdog DGCA will carry out a detailed probe into the incident of Ram Air Turbine (RAT) getting deployed in an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft few minutes before landing at the Birmingham airport on Saturday, according to an official. In an aircraft, RAT gets deployed automatically in the eventuality of a dual engine failure or total electronic or hydraulic failure. RAT uses wind speed to generate emergency power. The senior DGCA official told PTI that RAT got deployed during landing of the plane at 400 feet but the pilot did not report any related abnormality. The maintenance actions for uncommanded RAT deployment recommended by Boeing have been carried out and no discrepancy were observed, the official said and added that the aircraft is being released for service. The official also said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will carry out a detailed investigation into the incident. "The operating crew of flight AI117 from Amritsar to Birmingham o

DGCA steps in to check festive airfare surge, asks airlines to add flights

Following discussions with airlines, the regulator said carriers have committed to deploying extra capacity to meet higher travel demand

Domestic air traffic at 12 mn in Aug; flight delays hit 74,381 people: DGCA

Domestic airlines flew 1.29 crore passengers in August, lower than 1.31 crore people carried by them in the year-ago period, according to the latest official data. However, the traffic quantum was higher in August compared to July, when it stood at 1.26 crore. IndiGo's domestic market fell to 64.2 per cent in August against 65.2 per cent in July, while that of Air India Group -- comprising Air India and Air India Express -- rose to 27.3 per cent from 26.2 per cent during the same period. "Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-August 2025 were 1,107.26 lakhs as against 1054.66 lakhs during the corresponding period of the previous year, thereby registering an annual growth of 4.99 per cent and a monthly growth of -1.40 per cent," DGCA said in its monthly traffic report for August. In August, the passenger number stood at 1.29 crore, lower than 1.31 crore recorded in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the market share of Akasa Air dipped to 5.4 per cent in August