NEW DELHI, July 30 (Reuters) - India's aviation

regulator said on Wednesday it had found 263 safety-related

lapses at the country's airlines, including 23 at the largest

carrier IndiGo and 51 at the second largest Air India, as part

of its regular annual audit.

The audits were carried out as part of International Civil

Aviation Organization requirements and global best practices,

the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on

Wednesday, cautioning that higher number of findings are normal

for airlines with bigger fleet sizes.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that DGCA had 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. The audit was not related to the

deadly Boeing 787 crash last month that killed 260 people in

Ahmedabad.

The DGCA said it had also found 14 deficiencies at SpiceJet

and 17 at Vistara, which is now part of Air India. The regulator

found 25 lapses at Air India Express, Air India's budget

carrier. Akasa Air is yet to be audited.

The regulator did not detail what kind of lapses were found

but divided the list of breaches into "Level I", which are

significant breaches, and "Level II", which are other

non-compliances. In total, 19 "Level I" breaches were found at

Indian airlines, the DGCA said.