The plane was flown without a valid certificate, a fine of Rs 1 crore imposed on Air India

New Delhi: DGCA has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Tata Group’s Air India. According to reports, the company had operated an Airbus A320 aircraft on at least 8 flights without a valid Airworthiness Review Certificate (ARC) in November 2025. This was considered a serious security breach. On 26 November 2025, Air India itself informed DGCA that one of its Airbus A320 aircraft (registration VT-TQN) operated on 8 commercial flights even though its ARC had expired. These flights took place on 24 and 25 November on routes like Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

DGCA told case of serious violation

Let us tell you that ARC is issued every year, in which the maintenance records, physical condition and all airworthiness standards of the aircraft are checked. This serves as validation of the main airworthiness certificate. DGCA started its investigation on 2 December 2025. After completion of the investigation, DGCA has now imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Air India. The regulator called this a serious violation and said that public trust has been affected. According to some reports, DGCA has also ordered the removal of some engineering post-holders of Air India.

Air India issued a statement on the matter

Air India said in a statement on the issue, ‘Air India confirms receipt of the DGCA order, which relates to the voluntarily reported incident in 2025. All identified deficiencies have now been satisfactorily rectified and shared with the authorities. Air India already has the right to issue ARC for its aircraft. Let us tell you that after the acquisition by Tata Group, Air India has already faced action from DGCA for violation of many rules.

Compensation process started in AI-171 plane crash

Meanwhile, Air India has started the process of giving final compensation to the families of the passengers killed in the AI-171 plane crash. On June 12, 2025, 260 people were killed due to the crash of a flight going from Ahmedabad to London. Air India had already paid an interim compensation of Rs 25 lakh to each affected family. Now the final compensation will be given on ‘full and final’ basis. If the total compensation for a family comes out to be less than Rs 25 lakh, they will be given an additional Rs 10 lakh. Additionally, the AI-171 Memorial and Welfare Trust set up by the Tata Group is providing additional assistance of Rs 1 crore to the families of the deceased.

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