Aviation regulator orders Air India to remove officials

A fire officer stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 13, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 21 June 2025
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Aviation regulator orders Air India to remove officials

  • Airline’s voluntary disclosures “point to systemic failures in crew scheduling, compliance monitoring, and internal accountability”
  • Air India crash in June 12 in Ahmedabad killed all but one of the 242 people on board. At least 38 others on the ground also perished

NEW DELHI: New Delhi’s civil aviation regulator has ordered Air India to remove three officials from their roles over “systemic failures,” according to a directive seen by AFP Saturday, as the carrier comes under scrutiny after a deadly crash.

The instruction from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) did not detail whether it was linked to the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad, which killed all but one of the 242 people on board. At least 38 others on the ground were killed.

The DGCA directive noted that the airline’s voluntary disclosures “point to systemic failures in crew scheduling, compliance monitoring, and internal accountability.”

“Of particular concern is the absence of strict disciplinary measures against key officials directly responsible for these operational lapses,” said the order, which was issued on Friday.

“These officials have been involved in serious and repeated lapses,” it said.

The regulator has directed Air India to remove three officials named in the order “from all roles and responsibilities related to crew scheduling,” take disciplinary action, and report on steps taken within 10 days.

Future violations could also result in “license suspension.”

The airline said on Saturday it had implemented the order.

“Air India is committed to ensuring that there is total adherence to safety protocols and standard practices,” it said in a statement.

Investigators are attempting to find out what caused the airline’s London-bound plane to hurtle to the ground moments after takeoff in Ahmedabad.

Air India said on Thursday that the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane was “well-maintained” and that the pilots were accomplished flyers.

The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have been recovered from the crash site.


US lawmaker Fine criticized by rights advocates, Democrats after anti-Muslim remarks

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US lawmaker Fine criticized by rights advocates, Democrats after anti-Muslim remarks

  • Fine’s past comments ⁠include ⁠calling for the mass expulsion of all Muslims from the US, labeling of Muslims as “terrorists” and the mocking of the starvation and killing of Palestinians in Gaza, among others

WASHINGTON: ‌Rights advocates and multiple Democrats on Tuesday condemned anti-Muslim comments by Republican US Representative Randy Fine who ​said on Sunday that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”
Fine, whose comments against Muslims have often sparked outrage, has dismissed the criticism and since doubled down on his remarks on social media. The Council on American-Islamic Relations designated the ‌Republican US ‌lawmaker from Florida as an ​anti-Muslim ‌extremist ⁠last ​year.
“If they ⁠force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” Fine said on X on Sunday in a post that had over 40 million views as of Tuesday afternoon.
Some ⁠high-profile Democrats including California Governor Gavin Newsom ‌called for him ‌to resign while House ​of Representatives Minority Leader ‌Hakeem Jeffries called Fine an “Islamophobic, disgusting and ‌unrepentant bigot.”
Jeffries also called for Republicans — who hold a majority in both chambers of Congress — to hold Fine accountable.
“To ignore this is to ‌accept and normalize it,” Democratic US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said. Fine’s past comments ⁠include ⁠calling for the mass expulsion of all Muslims from the US, labeling of Muslims as “terrorists” and the mocking of the starvation and killing of Palestinians in Gaza, among others. Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia in the US in recent years due to a range of factors including hard-line immigration policies and white-supremacist rhetoric, as ​well as the ​fallout of Israel’s war in Gaza on American society.