Nine pilots, 32 cabin crew fail alcohol take a look at in Jan-April

Nine pilots and 32 cabin crew members examined constructive for breath alcohol throughout checks performed between January 1 and April 30, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) mentioned Tuesday in a press release.

The DGCA identified that of the 37 flight crew members, 4 pilots and 10 cabin crew members of IndiGo, one pilot and 5 cabin crew members of GoFirst, one pilot and 6 cabin crew members of SpiceJet, one pilot of Air India Express, 4 cabin crew members of AirAsia India failed the alcohol assessments throughout the mentioned interval. One pilot and two cabin crew members of Vistara, one pilot of Alliance Air and 5 cabin crew members of Air India additionally failed the take a look at, the aviation regulator mentioned.

The numbers of crew failing their breath alcohol assessments is broadly in step with the scale of the respective airline’s operations. Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, all crew members had been mandated to endure pre-flight alcohol assessments. But the assessments had been suspended in mild of the pandemic. Subsequently, the assessments had been resumed however for less than a small share of crew members.

“DGCA strictly enforced the requirements on the Breath Analyzer testing of the crew for the consumption of the alcohol even during the prevailing pandemic conditions. During the period of four months commencing from January 1, the DGCA has carried out 48 enforcement actions for violations of various requirements of the regulation regarding testing of crew for the consumption of alcohol,” DGCA mentioned.

“During this period, nine pilots and 32 cabin crew were found BA positive. Out of these, two pilots and two cabin crew have been suspended for a period of three years for bring positive for the second time. The remaining 37 crew members were suspended for a period of three months for being tested BA positive for the first time”.

In addition to the motion taken towards the 41 crew members (9 pilots and 32 cabin crew members), the DGCA has additionally acted towards seven crew members for “missing BA tests or not furnishing the declaration”.