28-07-2025
Air India tells pilots to ensure adherence to rules in annual test
New Delhi: Air India has asked its pilots to ensure rules are followed during their mandatory annual test, officials told HT on Sunday. Air India tells pilots to ensure adherence to rules in annual test
In an internal email to the pilots, seen by HT, the airline also informed them that it is upgrading its training and rostering software. The internal email, sent by the director training late night on Saturday, is a notice to all pilots stating that the airline is upgrading the CAE system. CAE, a Canadian simulator company, is a pilot training management platform used by airlines.
The notice read, '..This step is being introduced as an additional mitigation measure, while our planning teams continue to monitor the process closely as well…'
'Pilots have been asked to double-check their assigned trainer for Annual Line Route check (ALC) against their previous ALC record,' one of the officials aware of the development said.
ALC is a yearly flying test for pilots where a senior trainer flies with them during a regular flight to see how they perform. The test is done on an actual flight.
A comment from Air India was awaited till the time of going to press.
A second official aware of the matter however, said that the software upgrade triggered the email to the pilots. 'Civil Aviation Rules (CAR) mandate the pilots to perform these annual tests with different trainers every year. Since the software is being upgraded, automated safeguards may not be fully functional and so manual verification has been requested from the pilots.'
'This is not related to the recent notices,' he insisted.
This is part of its strategy to ensure norms are followed during such planned training - non compliance have triggered slew of notices from the aviation safety regulator, another official said.
To be sure, India's aviation regulator on Wednesday issued four show cause notices to Air India for multiple violations of operational procedures and regulations on training cabin crew and managing their duty hours.
The government, in its first meeting with the senior management of Air India including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson received a detailed explanation of the airline's efforts towards maintaining safety, reviewed recent incidents, discussed fleet maintenance, and asked the airline to reassess its operations within a month.
The move came amid heightened concerns over passenger safety and the operational standards being followed by both Air India and its low-cost subsidiary.
'The government, last week, ordered Air India to maintain the highest level of safety standards, after which it will review the airline's operations after a month,' another official said. These efforts are being made to ensure compliance and many more will follow. 'The airline is now taking more efforts,' he added.
