India fines Air India $110,350 over incident

NEW DELHI, Feb 14 (Reuters): India's civil aviation watchdog has fined Air India $110,350 for flying an Airbus plane eight times without an airworthiness permit, saying the lapse has further eroded public trust in the country's second-biggest airline, a confidential order shows.
An Airbus A320 flew passengers between New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad on November 24 and November 25 without the mandatory Airworthiness Review Certificate, or ARC, a key permit issued annually by the regulator after a plane passes safety and compliance checks.
Air India's own internal investigation into the incident, which Reuters reported in December, found "systemic failures", with the airline, which also admitted there was an urgent need to improve compliance culture at the carrier.
A confidential penalty order issued by Indian authorities on February 5 to Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the incident had "further eroded public confidence and adversely impacted the safety compliance of the organisation."
"The accountable manager on behalf of Air India is found blameworthy for the above lapses," Joint Director General of Civil Aviation, Maneesh Kumar, wrote in the order, referring to Wilson.
Air India in a statement said it acknowledged the regulatory order on the incident, which it had voluntarily reported last year to authorities.
"All identified gaps have since been satisfactorily addressed and shared with the authority," it said. The airline has been asked to deposit the fine within 30 days.