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Air India faces intense scrutiny after June Dreamliner

crash

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India watchdog finds many lapses in regular audit

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Audit reveals "recurrent training gaps", increasing safety

risks

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Airline says will respond with details of corrective

action

By Aditya Kalra and Abhijith Ganapavaram

NEW DELHI, July 29 (Reuters) - India's aviation watchdog

found 51 safety lapses at Air India in its July audit, including

lack of adequate training for some pilots, use of unapproved

simulators and a poor rostering system, according to a

government report seen by Reuters.

The annual audit was not related to the deadly Boeing 787

crash last month that killed 260 people in Ahmedabad, but its

findings come as the airline faces renewed scrutiny after the

accident.

The Tata Group-owned airline is already facing warning

notices for running planes without checking emergency equipment,

not changing engine parts in time and forging records, along

with other lapses related to crew fatigue management.

The 11-page confidential audit report from the Directorate

General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) noted seven "Level I"

significant breaches which need to be fixed by July 30, and 44

other non-compliances classified which need to be resolved by

August 23.

Officials said they found "recurrent training gaps" for some

unspecified Boeing 787 and 777 pilots, saying they had

not completed their monitoring duties - where they don't fly but

observe functioning of instruments in the cockpit - ahead of

mandatory periodic evaluations.

Air India's fleet includes 34 Boeing 787s and 23 Boeing

777s, according to Flightradar24 website.

Flagging operational and safety risks, officials wrote in

their report that Air India did not do "proper route

assessments" for some so-called Category C airports - which may

have challenging layouts or terrain - and conducted training for

such airfields with simulators that did not meet qualification

standards.

"This may account to non-consideration of safety risks

during approaches to challenging airports," the DGCA audit

report said.

In a statement to Reuters, Air India said it was "fully

transparent" during the audit. It added it will "submit our

response to the regulator within the stipulated time frame,

along with the details of the corrective actions."

A preliminary report into the June crash found that the fuel

control switches were flipped almost simultaneously after

takeoff and there was pilot confusion in the cockpit. One pilot

asked the other why he cut off the fuel and the other responded

that he hadn't done so, the report said.

The DGCA has often flagged concerns about Air India pilots

breaching the limits of their flight-duty periods, and the audit

report said an AI-787 Milan-New Delhi flight last month exceeded

the limit by 2 hours and 18 minutes, calling it a "Level I"

non-compliance.

The audit was conducted by 10 DGCA inspectors, and included

another four auditors.

It also criticized the airline's rostering system, which it

said "doesn't give a hard alert" if a minimum number of crew

members were not being deployed on a flight, adding that at

least four international flights had flown with insufficient

cabin crew.

Tata acquired Air India from the government in 2022. While

it has aggressively expanded its international network, it faces

persistent complaints from passengers, who often take to social

media to show soiled seats, broken armrests, non-operational

entertainment systems and dirty cabin areas.

Reuters reported last week that Air India's senior

executives, including the airline's director of flight

operations and its director of training, were sent notices on

July 23 flagging 29 "systemic" lapses, pulling up the airline

for ignoring "repeated" warnings. Air India has said it will

respond to the regulator.

The audit report noted that "door checks and equipment

checks" showed inconsistency with procedures and there were gaps

in training documentation. Further, it said no chief pilots were

assigned for Airbus A320 and A350 fleet.

"This results in a lack of accountability, and effective

monitoring of flight operations for these aircraft types," the

report said.

Last year, authorities warned or fined airlines in 23

instances for safety violations, with 11 involving the Air India

Group. The biggest fine was $127,000 on Air India for

"insufficient oxygen on board" during some international

flights.