Delhi: IGI staffer suspended for being drunk

NEW DELHI: An aerobridge operator at Indira Gandhi International Airport was suspended on Monday for reporting to work drunk . He is the first non-pilot or non-cabin crew aviation personnel to be suspended for failing the breath analyser (BA) test.


Following a DGCA order, airports and airlines had started conducting BA tests on personnel providing key aviation services like air traffic controllers, aircraft maintenance engineers and ground staff from October 2.

Earlier BA tests were conducted only on pilots and cabin crew to ensure that they operate flights in a perfectly sober condition. Now, the scope of this test has been expanded to cover all key personnel, including people driving vehicles inside the airport.

“Delhi Airport suspended an aerobridge operator on Monday morning for three months after he failed the BA test. He was subjected to the test before being allowed to start his morning shift,” said Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Arun Kumar.

From October 2, many airports — Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kannur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Varanasi, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam along with some others — had rolled out the implementation of BA examination of personnel engaged in aircraft maintenance, air traffic control services, airport operation and ground handling services. Similarly, many airlines like Air Asia, Air India, GO Air, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Vistara also started the examinations.