Air India show-caused 9 times in past 6 months over safety violations

Air India received nine show-cause notices over the past six months due to five identified safety violations, junior aviation minister Murlidhar Mohol has told Rajya Sabha.

The minister noted that enforcement action has been completed for one of these violations, signalling ongoing concerns regarding the airline's adherence to safety protocols.

The minister's reply also touched upon the deadly accident involving the AI Dreamliner, which crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12. Mohol assured that there have been no adverse trends reported in the reliability assessments for this aircraft in the preceding six months, indicating a level of stability following the incident.


Moreover, the minister shed light on staffing deficiencies within key aviation regulatory bodies, including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and Airports Authority of India (AAI). As of now, the DGCA has 823 vacant positions, BCAS has 230, and AAI faces a staggering shortfall of 3,238 staff members.

Efforts to address these vacancies have been underway, as Mohol detailed that a total of 441 new posts, primarily technical roles, were established between 2022 and 2024. In addition, 84 operational posts were created in the restructuring of BCAS in 2024, along with 840 positions for air traffic controllers recently added.

The minister assured that despite the shortfall, the operational capacity of these organisations has not been adversely affected.

The government is actively pursuing various recruitment methods to ensure that the aviation sector is adequately staffed, including short-term contractual hiring for urgent needs, he informed the Upper House.

Mohol explained that the challenges in filling these vacancies stem from several factors, such as low response rates to job advertisements, selected candidates not joining, and insufficient experience among those eligible for promotion.

The government is committed to overcoming these hurdles to maintain a robust and effective aviation oversight framework, he said.