DGCA Fines Air India Rs 1 Crore for Flying Airbus Aircraft 8 Times Without Airworthiness Permit

India’s aviation regulator has imposed a Rs 1 crore penalty on Air India after an Airbus aircraft was allegedly operated multiple times without a valid airworthiness permit, according to Times Now sources. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also fixed accountability at the top, with sources telling Times Now that the lapse has been linked to the airline’s leadership structure, placing CEO Campbell Wilson in the spotlight as the accountable manager in the case.Sources said the aircraft in question was flown eight times despite lacking the required airworthiness clearance, a violation regulators view as serious given the safety implications. Officials indicated that the DGCA opted for the highest possible monetary penalty after observing

what they described as “casualness” in compliance with mandatory aviation norms.“DGCA comes very heavily on such violations because this is something casualness which DGCA observed and highest penalty have been put which is possible,” a source aware of the development told Times Now. The source added that when a regulatory fine is imposed on an airline, the notice is formally served to the accountable manager, which in this case is the chief executive.On the fine imposed by DGCA, Air India spokesperson said, "Air India acknowledges the receipt of a DGCA order in relation to an incident that was voluntarily reported back in 2025. All identified gaps have since been satisfactorily addressed and shared with the authority. Air India remains unwavering in its commitment to maintaining the highest standards of operational integrity and safety."The penalty is linked to an Airbus A320 that operated several passenger flights between Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad on November 24 and 25 without a valid Airworthiness Review Certificate (ARC). The ARC, issued annually by the regulator, confirms that an aircraft has cleared required safety and compliance inspections before being cleared to fly.

A320 Safety Scare

Air India, in December, last year, grounded an aircraft maintenance engineer and formed a committee to decide on action against several pilots after they allegedly operated an Airbus A320neo multiple times in November without the required airworthiness certification. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was probing the incident reported on November 26. The regulator had asked the airline to carry out an internal probe to fix the responsibility and ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future.Following the A320 neo aircraft-related developments, Air India's Accountable Manager and Director of Flight Operations Manish Uppal sent out a communication to all pilots, reminding them of their "responsibility" regarding document validation. According to the report, the four-year old aircraft A320 neo aircraft VT-TNQ belongging to erstwhile Vistara was grounded for a long time and its airworthiness certificate had also expired.On November 24, the airline decided to take the aircraft off the ground and conducted a proven flight over Delhi. On the same day, the said aircraft operated commercial services on Delhi-Bengaluru-Mumbai sector, as per the sources.The next day, on November 25, the same aircraft operated commercial flights on Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Hyderabad-Mumbai then again Mumbai-Hyderabad- Mumbai. After these operations, the plane was sent for maintenance on the same day and that was when the engineers found that there was no valid airworthiness certification, they said.