India’s civil aviation regulator, the DGCA, has officially removed Air India’s Air Safety Chief after it was discovered that the airline had not sufficiently maintained and stored its flight data records. DGCA regulations require Indian-based airlines to store all flight data records for a minimum of 6 months. However, a recent investigation by the DGCA identified that these records had not been adequately recorded and stored by Air India’s safety department and that much of the data was not stored at all. The DGCA has subsequently moved to have the Flight Safety Chief stood down from his position as a consequence of the non-compliance with the prescribed regulations.

The Indonesian civil aviation regulator, the DGCA, has recently cited that it will move to revoke the Air Operators Certificate’s (AOC’s) of airlines that are currently in a state of negative equity. As a part of new laws passed by the DGCA, the regulator has prescribed minimum capital amounts that must be held by airlines, which will in turn be based on the capacity of the aircraft being operated by the airline. The regulator noted that these laws were designed to further enhance airline safety within Indonesia, as sustained poor financial performance likely limited the airline’s ability to invest in safety initiatives.

The Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) has fined Okay Airways for breaching crew rest regulations. Okay Airways reportedly allowed its pilots to work duty periods that exceeded the maximum allowable time permitted by the regulations. As a result, the crew rest periods were less than the minimum prescribed by the CAAC regulations. The CAAC reportedly fined the airline approximately USD80,000 and has forced the airline to reduce its September schedule by 20 percent as a penalty for the violations.