Nine pilots and 32 cabin-crew members failed their pre-flight alcohol tests between January 1 and April 30, India’s aviation regulator DGCA said on Tuesday.
“Of them, two pilots and two cabin-crew members have been suspended for a period of three years for being positive for the second time,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a statement.
The remaining seven pilots and 30 cabin-crew members tested BA positive for the first time, it added, and were suspended for three months.
According to the DGCA, four pilots and 10 cabin crew members of IndiGo, one pilot and five cabin crew members of Go First, one pilot and six cabin crew members of SpiceJet, one pilot of Air India Express and four cabin crew members of AirAsia India failed the pre-flight alcohol tests.
In April, the DGCA had restrained 90 pilots of SpiceJet airline from operating Boeing 737 Max aircraft on finding them not properly trained.
The aviation regulator had asserted that airlines must ensure that 50 per cent of their cockpit and cabin-crew members are subjected to pre-flight alcohol tests on a daily basis.
Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, all crew members were required to undergo pre-flight alcohol tests. When the pandemic struck, the tests were suspended for a couple of months. Subsequently, the tests were resumed but for only a small percentage of crew members.
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