Air India flight delay turns into pilot-crew slanging match

The blame game between the pilots and the cabin crew of Air India’s (AI) Saturday flight to New York, which got delayed by 12 hours, has intensified. While the cabin crew say they walked out of the plane since the pilot extended their duty hours in violation of international flight safety norms, the AI management mantains the pilot was well within his rights to do so. 

On March 6, AI 141 from Mumbai to New York, which is usually not late by even five minutes, got delayed by 12 hours. The reason was a technical snag. “The engineers rectified the problem, but they did not certify the plane to be flight worthy. The captain refused to fly without certification and the plane was on the ground till 4.30am,” said a source from the Air India Cabin Crew Association (AICCA).

This created problems with the flight duty time limit (FDTL) of the cabin crew, which can fly a maximum of 20 hours under the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) rules, while the flight takes 18 hours to reach New York. “The captain then issued a dispensation increasing the FDTL by four hours. This meant the crew would be flying for 24 hours straight,” the source said. “The plane was being operated with no substitutes, and if the crew worked for 24 hours, they would be fatigued and would not be able to take care of passenger safety in case of an emergency.”

The crew then alighted from the plane at 4.30am, and walked off. “We contacted joint director of DGCA, AK Chopra, informing him of our stance, but there was no reply,” said the source.

This tussle between the crew and the captain also inconvenienced the passengers as they had to sleep in the plane till 6am. “We were deplaned around 6am, taken to the transit lounge, and only at 8am were we served breakfast,” complained Amul Brije, 30, a US-based financial consultant who was on the flight. “We were told that the pilots are present, but cabin crew is missing,” he said. The flight was finally operated with another set of crew.

Chopra said he did not want to speak on the issue, while Nasim Zaidi, director general of civil aviation, did not respond to our calls. The AI spokesperson, however, said there was no violation. “The duty time of the cabin crew may be extended by a maximum of four hours in case of technical snags, adverse weather or any other unforeseen circumstances to avoid inconvenience to the passengers. The dispensation by the captain is authorised.”