The national civil aviation regulator DGCA has imposed a financial penalty of Rs 90 lakh on Tata Group-owned Air India Limited for operating a flight with non-qualified crew members, according to an official statement issued on Friday.

In addition, a penalty of Rs 6 lakh and Rs 3 lakh respectively has been imposed on the Director, Operations and Director, Training of Air India. The concerned pilot has also been warned to exercise caution to prevent such occurrences in future.

Air India operated a flight commanded by a non-trainer line captain paired with a non-line-released first officer, which has been viewed by the civil aviation regulator as a serious scheduling incident having significant safety ramifications.