Aviation regulators DGCA and BCAS imposed heavy penalties totalling ₹2.7 crore on IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet and Mumbai Airport on Wednesday, January 17. They have been fined for violations of various regulations.
The aviation regulator Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has imposed a penalty of ₹60 lakh on Mumbai airport operator MIAL over passengers eating food on tarmac following a flight delay. Additionally, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also imposed a fine of ₹30 lakh, whereas BCAS slapped a fine of ₹1.2 crore on IndiGo Airlines.
Air India and SpiceJet were penalised ₹30 lakh each by DGCA for failure to comply with instructions regarding the rostering of pilots for Low Visibility Operations and Fog Preparedness. DGCA found that Air India and SpiceJet did not roster CAT II/III and low-visibility take-off-qualified pilots for some of the flights, according to an official.
The Mumbai airport has been fined for making passengers wait on the apron for a considerable time and has penalised for flouting Air Safety Circular 04 of 2007, which directs all agencies working at the airport not to permit walking on an active apron.
DGCA had issued show cause notices to Air India and SpiceJet earlier this month for their failure to deploy pilots trained to operate in low-visibility conditions after several flights were diverted due to dense fog at the Delhi Airport in December.
