NEW DELHI: An Air India First Officer operating a Zurich-Delhi flight was recently suspended after testing positive in a breathalyser test at Zurich Airport shortly before the scheduled departure. The pilot was reported to airport authorities by the airline’s check-in staff, who suspected he had consumed alcohol.
This is the second alcohol-related incident involving an international pilot from the Air India Express group in just over a month.
The latest incident occurred on the afternoon of September 6 at Zurich airport. The pilot was checking in at the Air India counter at the airport before he was to operate AI 151.
“The check-in staff of our airline noted that he smelt of alcohol and felt it could be beyond permissible limits. They alerted the airport authorities at Zurich who subjected him to a breathalyser test,” an Air India source said. The result was positive with the co-pilot found to have consumed alcohol beyond the permissible limit, the source added.
The trip of AI 151 was cancelled due to non-availability of spare crew. Following the incident, Air India immediately placed him under suspension. “The suspension will be in effect until the report is submitted to us by the Zurich authorities. Depending on the content of the report, we will decide on the action to be taken in future,” another source said.
The pilot was repatriated back to India by the same plane as a passenger. “The flight took off the following morning after an alternative crew was arranged,” he added.
The TNIE on September 17 broke the story that four pilots and four cabin crew members of an international flight operated by Air India Express (AIX) have been placed under suspension for a period of three months for delaying a mandatory breathalyser test on August 2 by 2 hours and 35 minutes. The crew of all international flights operated by Indian airlines must take a post-flight alcohol test within a maximum period of two hours after landing at any airport in India.
Pilots and their addictive habits became a matter of national concern after the Flight Captain of the August 4 Phuket-New Delhi flight (AI 2378) tested positive for marijuana and was terminated by the airline. A total of 24 people on that plane sustained injuries due to multiple technical issues on board.
In the aftermath of the incident, the Air India Group announced that it was carrying out mandatory dope testing for all its cockpit crew. An Air India source said, “We have completed testing for most of our crew members, numbering nearly 5,000. The only pilots not yet subjected to these tests are those on ultra long-haul flights.” Response from Air India Express is awaited.
