DGCA takes major action against two top officials of Akasa Air

New Delhi| The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the Director Training and Director Operations of Akasa Air for 6 months each after the audit report found some violations. Responding to this matter, Akasa Air spokesperson said, we will continue to work with DGCA and comply accordingly. Safety is of paramount importance, and we constantly strive to maintain the highest standards of safety.

The two senior executives of the airline, in which the Rakesh Jhunjhunwala family has a stake, have “failed” to ensure ‘compliance’ with civil aviation requirements, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in two separate orders issued on 27 December. The suspension of the Director of Operations and Director of Training of Asasa Air was ordered after the DGCA found the responses to the show cause notices issued to them on 15 October and 30 October respectively ‘unsatisfactory’. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation in its orders also advised the airline to nominate ‘appropriate’ candidates for both the posts.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued the suspension order saying: ‘Regulatory audit conducted on behalf of DGCA on October 7, 2024 at M/s SNV Aviation Pvt Ltd (Akasa Air), Mumbai has found that RNP training (Approach) is being conducted on simulators that do not qualify for it… Which constitutes a violation of paragraph 7 of CAR Section 7, Series D, Part VI’

Stating that the Director of Operations and Director of Training at Akasa Air ‘failed to ensure compliance with Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR)’, DGCA said both officers ‘failed to adequately train personnel…Along with this, repeated omissions/violations have blamed him. The DGCA in its order also said that both the senior officers have ‘failed to discharge duties to meet the applicable legal requirements and maintain safe operations’ as per certain provisions of a particular CAR.