Safety watchdog suspends Air India operations director's pilot license for three years

India’s air safety watchdog Monday suspended the license of a senior Air India pilot, who is also the carrier’s director of operations, for three years, a day after he failed two breathalyzer tests before a flight to London from New Delhi. This is the second time Arvind Kathpalia has been in trouble over alcohol tests. He was suspended for three months in 2017 for allegedly refusing to take breathalyzer tests. “The privileges of his license have been suspended for a period of three years from 11.11.2018 as per the provisions of applicable regulations,” a spokesman at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. Kathpalia, who sits on the airline’s board, said the DGCA directive “is a rule and so it is meant to be followed”. “At present, I don’t see how” to contest it, he added. On Sunday, he had said that he would contest the results of the tests and claimed he was the victim of internal feuding within the loss-making state-owned airline.<br/>