Akasa Air hit by non-availability of CAT III pilots, cabin crew
Akasa Air faces operational strain due to a lack of available pilots, despite having 800 on staff, leading to flight cancellations and DGCA compliance issues.
New Delhi: Akasa Air, backed by Azeem Premji’s investment arm Premji Invest, is facing mounting operational strain due to the non-availability of cockpit crew to operate certain flights. This is despite the airline having around 800 pilots on its rolls, with as many as nine flights for at least Sunday left without available pilots, according to an internal communication reviewed by HT.
At the same time, CAT III pilot rosters have not been created from November 15 onwards and the pilots have not received the rosters so far, in violation of the DGCA norms that the cockpit crew should receive the roster 15 days in advance, people privy to the information said.
This comes amid a DGCA notice to the airline, on October 21, revealing “repetitive” procedural lapses and “persistent” systemic deficiencies in the crucial areas of flight safety and cabin operations, among others, during the airline’s audit. The regulator had classified the lapses as “Level II” safety violations, signifying significant and repeated non-compliance that, while not posing an immediate threat, indicate deeper gaps in safety management and procedural adherence.
The airline, however, had stated the regulator’s notice as “routine audits”. “Akasa Air always submits comprehensive responses to all observations raised within the prescribed timelines,” it had said.
Akasa Air started operations in August 2022.
“At least nine flights for Monday remain uncovered due to unavailability of captains,” according to the internal communication.
“Below mention flights patterns (Mumbai-Chennai-Port Blair, Bengaluru-Guwahati-Bagdogra, Bengaluru-Kolkata-Pune, Bengaluru-Guwahati, Bengaluru-Abu Dhabi-Mumbai) are open for November 2 due to unavailability of CPs,” the communication read.
It also stated, “..due to non-availability in the evening and nil standby, we tried calling pattern offs and checked the status of availability.”
The airline spokesperson however, said, “We are making certain operational adjustments which has led to a temporary impact on a few of our flights. These adjustments are being made in compliance with implementing Phase 2 of the revised Flight Duty Time Limit (FDTL) regulations issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).”
“We do not anticipate any further disruptions. Our Akasa Care Centre team is proactively reaching out to affected passengers to provide alternate travel options and assist with refunds where preferred,” the airline said.
Akasa, however, did not explain how it was facing unavailability of pilots despite having around 800 pilots to operate a fleet of just 30 aircraft.
Insiders however, say that more than 300 airline pilots are currently undergoing training.
“The airline has around 800 pilots out of which 300 first officers are under a never ending training schedule. A substantial number of cleared pilots are not being rostered for active flying. This mismatch between scheduled operations and available crew has led to last-minute cancellations and delays over the past few days,” a second person aware of the matter said.
“Despite having 50% of the total pilot strength sitting at home, the airline has opened vacancies for hiring more first officers,” another person close to the development said.
“Airlines operating from low-visibility airports such as Delhi are required to deploy adequately trained pilots for CAT-III operations during fog conditions. However, the airline is yet to issue pilot rosters beyond November 15, and crew members have not received their schedules so far- a potential violation of DGCA norms mandating rosters be published at least 15 days in advance,” one of the people in the privy to the matter said.
“The airline has increased the number of aircraft but they have not been able to proportionately hire the right number of CAT III compliant pilots, which is expected to cause cancellations in this fog season,” the person added.
