NEW DELHI: Multiple airports in the country will conduct breath tests of officials engaged in air traffic control, maintenance, operation and ground handling services from October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Earlier, breath analyser tests were conducted to determine whether a person had consumed alcohol or not and was applicable only for pilots and cabin crew.
Now, however, aviation regulator DGCA said that the scope of the test has been expanded to cover key aviation personnel like air traffic controllers, aircraft maintenance engineers and ground staff from Wednesday, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The airports where the breath test will start include Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kannur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Varanasi, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam along with a few others.
DGCA has said that these officials can be tested within an hour after reporting for duty. It also said that many airlines including Air India, Indigo, Go Air, Spicejet and others will participate in this and the rollout will be partial and will complete before October 30.
Earlier, the regulator had proposed that “organisations engaged in the provision of air navigation services, aerodrome management, aircraft maintenance and repair, shall ensure that at least 10% individuals employed in their respective organisations as engaged in such functions are randomly subjected to BA examination on daily basis.”
The DGCA wanted a system to be devised for this testing so “that all employees have an equal chance of being tested each time selections are made.”