Air India sacks pilot Arvind Kathpalia after he tested positive during pre-flight breath tests

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New Delhi: Air India senior Captain Arvind Kathpalia has been relieved from the charge of Director (Operations) with immediate effect. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspended his flying licence for three years after he failed the breath analyser (BA) test before his flight on November 11.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday said in its release, “Captain Amitabh Singh, ED (Training), AIL to be assigned the additional charge of the post of Director (Operations), AIL with immediate effect till further orders.” The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) had demanded the immediate termination of Kathpalia from the Air India’s board calling him a “repeat offender” who endangers passengers’ lives.

Kathpalia was found positive in a pre-flight breath analyser test and declared ‘not fit to fly’. He was scheduled to fly AI-111 flight from Delhi to London on November 11.

According to the ICPA, Kathpalia had skipped the BA test on January 19 last year. He was scheduled to operate a flight from New Delhi to Bengaluru and proceeded to do so without undergoing the mandatory test claiming that the flight would get delayed. Upon landing at Bengaluru, the pilot allegedly refused to undergo the test once again.

The ICPA had also claimed that the signature pilots are mandated to make in a register upon completion of duty was also allegedly forged by Kathpalia. The DGCA had suspended Kathpalia last year for three months after he had skipped compulsory pre-flight medical test on several occasions.

It is mandatory for pilots to undertake the BA test to ensure that they are not in an inebriated state before entering the cockpit. For safety reasons, they are prohibited from consuming alcohol before reporting for duty.