The Directorate Normal of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s civil aviation regulator, has fined Air India ₹1 crore ($110,350) for flying an Airbus plane eight occasions with out an airworthiness allow, saying that the incident has eroded public belief within the airline, information company Reuters reported. Air India is the second-largest service within the nation after IndiGo.
The DGCA imposed the effective after Air India operated an Airbus A320 on passenger flights between New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad on 24 and 25 November with out the obligatory Airworthiness Assessment Certificates or ARC, which is a key allow issued on an annual foundation by the regulator after a aircraft passes security and compliance checks.
In the meantime, Air India carried an inside investigation into the incident in December, which additionally discovered “systemic failures”, throughout the airline. It admitted that there was an pressing want to enhance compliance tradition on the service, the company report stated.
‘Eroded public confidence’
A confidential penalty order issued by the aviation authorities on 5 February 2026 to Air India CEO Campbell Wilson acknowledged that the incident had “additional eroded public confidence and adversely impacted the security compliance of the organisation”.
“The accountable supervisor on behalf of Air India is discovered blameworthy for the above lapses,” Joint Director Normal of Civil Aviation, Maneesh Kumar, wrote within the order, referring to Wilson.
The airline has been directed to deposit ₹1 crore throughout the subsequent 30 days.
The penalty additionally comes months after Air India suffered its worst catastrophe when a Boeing Dreamliner, headed to Heathrow in London from Ahmedabad, crashed moments after take-off. The crash in June final yr killed 260 individuals.
Inner probe blames pilots for Airbus incident
An investigation into the Airbus incident by Air India additionally blamed pilots, saying those that flew the eight flights didn’t adjust to customary working procedures earlier than taking off, Reuters reported.
Air India, which is owned by the Tata Group and Singapore Airways, has additionally confronted warnings from the aviation watchdog for working planes with out conducting obligatory checks on emergency tools, together with a number of different audit lapses, the company stated.