DGCA suspends Air India’s simulator facilities in Mumbai, Hyderabad

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended Air India’s (A-I’s) Airbus simulator facility in Hyderabad a day after cracking down on the airline’s Boeing simulator unit in Mumbai.

This came after the regulator found certain “lapses” during a spot check.

With the suspension of all Air India’s simulator facilities in the country, no pilot of the airline can undergo licence renewal or flight refresher courses.

As a result, the licences and other certifications of these pilots could lapse, affecting their ability to fly commercial flights. 

A DGCA official said that the airline’s approved training organisation (ATO) licence has been suspended. This means that it cannot operate any of its simulator facilities present in Mumbai and Hyderabad. 

The newspaper had on Tuesday reported about the suspension of Air India’s Boeing simulator facility in Mumbai.  

Air India’s Hyderabad facility is used by pilots operating a narrow-body fleet that includes A320 planes. The planes are primarily utilised for short-haul flights. 

The airline’s Mumbai facility is used by pilots operating a wide-body fleet, which includes Boeing 777 and B787 aircraft. These planes are primarily utilised to operate long-haul international flights.

If pilot licenses and certificates lapse, A-I’s international and domestic flights could get impacted. 

Air India did not respond to queries by Business Standard. 

“Air India has been directed to utilise the ATO (Approved Training Organisation) only after suitably addressing the concerns of DGCA raised following a spot check of the simulator,” a senior DGCA official told the newspaper on Tuesday.

All pilots have to undergo compulsory licence renewal every six months using a simulator.

They also have to undergo certification courses — instrument rating, ground training refresher and aviation security — every year using a simulator.

If these certification courses and licence renewals are not undertaken, a pilot can’t operate a commercial flight.

Air India has 74 Airbus planes and 53 Boeing planes in its fleet as on August 1, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

An Air India official had on Tuesday said these refresher programmes are not conducted on a daily basis.

The official claimed that there is no cause for concern as the training of pilots is scheduled on an annual basis.

“This is a routine exercise in the aviation sector, and checks and balances in all airlines. We are taking corrective action (on the recent development). We have enough pilots to tide over this process of corrective action,” the airline official had said on Tuesday.

In February, Air India had placed an order for 470 planes — 250 with European plane maker Airbus and 220 with Boeing. 

This order is the world’s second-largest single-tranche aircraft purchase. The order with Boeing is for 190 B737Max, 20 B787s and 10 B777s aircraft.

The Airbus firm order comprises 210 A320 family aircraft and 40 A350 planes.

A350, B777 and B787 are wide-body aircraft, which have bigger fuel tanks, allowing them to traverse long distances such as India-North America routes.

The Tata Group took control of Air India in January last year. In FY23, Air India’s net loss jumped by 19.16 per cent to Rs 11,387.96 crore. 

Earlier this month, Air India unveiled its new logo and livery consisting of red, golden and violet colours.