New Delhi: India’s aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)  on Friday ordered the suspension of the director of operations and director of training at Akasa Air for six months for alleged lapses in pilots’ training. This comes after the DGCA found the replies to the show-cause notices issued to them on October 15 and October 30, respectively, as “unsatisfactory”.

The two senior executives of the airline, in which the Rakesh Jhunjhunwala family holds stakes, have “failed” to ensure “compliance” with the civil aviation requirements, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in its two separate orders of December 27. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, in its orders, also advised the airline to nominate “suitable” candidates for the two positions.  

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) while issuing suspension orders, said, “It has been found in regulatory audit conducted by DGCA on Oct 7, 2024, at M/s SNV Aviation Private Limited (Akasa Air), Mumbai, that RNP training (Approaches) is being conducted on simulators which have not been qualified for the same… which is in violation of Para 7 of CAR Section 7, Series D, Part VI.” Stating that the director of operations and the director of training at Akasa Air “failed to ensure the compliances of Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR),” the DGCA said that the two officials “failed to train personnel adequately … also repeated lapses/violation has been found pertaining to training”.

The DGCA in its order also added that the two senior executives have ” failed to discharge duties to meet applicable legal requirements and to maintain safe operations” as per certain provisions of a particular CAR