Mumbai: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is likely to ground 132 pilots and 434 cabin crew members of national carrier Air India for allegedly skipping the mandatory pre and post-flight alcohol test.These crew members had regularly been “evading” the breath-analyser test over a period of time for flights to and from certain destinations such as Singapore, Kuwait, Bangkok, Ahmedabad and Goa, sources close to the development said.
Since the grounding of such a large number of crew members could cripple the airline’s narrow body operations, the DGCA is likely to enforce its action in a phased manner, said another source.