NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday suspended the director training and director operations of Akasa for six months each and “advised” the airline to nominate “suitable candidate(s)”, meaning find replacements for these crucial positions.
The action came after a DGCA audit at Akasa’s Mumbai facility on October 7, 2024, found that “RNP (required navigation performance) training (approaches) is being conducted on simulators which have not been qualified for the same” — a serious safety lapse.
RNP approaches are practised in simulators to qualify cockpit crew as these approaches are available all over the world and are becoming the new norm. They are precise and accurate approaches with guidance in both the lateral and vertical planes to bring an aircraft close to the ground with high levels of accuracy as they work in conjunction with GNSS (satellite navigation) till the runway is visible.
Comments have been sought from Akasa on the DGCA action and are awaited.
The regulator, sources say, has told the airline that the two officials have “failed to ensure compliance of civil aviation requirements (CAR or rules).” It had issued show cause to the two ob Oct 30 and found their response to the same “unsatisfactory”. “The DGCA order has pointed out that the two officials have failed to train personnel adequately. Also repeated lapses/violations have been found pertaining to training,” said people in the know.
Training at Akasa had off late emerged as a concern when the airline sought exemption from low visibility operations at Kolkata and Bengaluru this winter possibly due to lack of pilots trained to carry out the same. “For an airline with 26 aircraft in its fleet and over 840 pilots that is in its third year of operations, this request indicated that there’s something amiss in its training,” people in the know had said recently.
One of India’s youngest airline, Akasa has been flying through turbulence for some time now. The airline has ordered Boeing 737 MAX aircraft which the troubled US aerospace major has not been able to deliver as per schedule. This hit the money airlines generate from sale and lease back of planes. The airline has been looking for funding after making losses — something not out of the ordinary for any new carrier in the first few years of operations as getting break even needs some time and scale.
While it has only 26 planes, Akasa has over 840 pilots — way more than it actually requires as of now. With a majority of pilots just sitting at home with no flying, training and minimal pay, there is serious unrest among them.
