Air India's Director-Operations, Capt Arvind Kathpalia, was grounded on Sunday after he failed to clear the pre-flight breath analyser test.
Capt. Kathpalia was to operate Delhi-London flight AI-111 scheduled to depart from Delhi at 2.45 p.m.
Airline officials said that Capt. Kathpalia was made to take the test twice and failed both times. He was immediately grounded.
The flight has since been delayed as the airline is making arangements for a spare pilot to replace Capt. Kathpalia.
This is not the first time that Capt. Kathpalia is in the news. In January 2017, he was accused of skipping the mandatory pre-flight alcohol test and tampering with evidence.
According to the complaint filed by Indian Pilots Association, on January 19, 2017, Capt. Kathpalia was scheduled to operate a flight from New Delhi to Bengaluru and he proceeded to operate the flight without undergoing the mandatory pre-flight breath and analyser test.
