Air safety violation by pilots and cabin crew tripled last year compared to 2015 with SpiceJet accounting for 40% of the 176 violations reported, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.

While there were 49 such incidents in 2015, they rose to 176 last year mainly due to reporting of violations of regulations regarding rest and Flight and Duty Time Limitations (FTDL).

“In 2016, it has been observed that air safety violations of some of the airlines as compared to 2015 have increased mainly due to violations by flight crew. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has taken actions according to applicable Civil Aviation requirements,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in the Lok Sabha last week.

The year 2015 saw 49 violations, all of them related to failing the breath analyser test. The flight crew were selected randomly for such tests, before and after the service.

Indigo and Jet Airways (13 each) and Air India (12) topped the list in 2015.

Last year, the number of cases of failing breath analyser tests rose to 61 with Air India topping the list at 22, followed by Jet Airways (12) and  IndiGo (9).

However, in 2016, the biggest violation was the airlines putting crew on duty without providing them enough time for rest. There were 105 such cases last year, while in 2015 no such case was reported. Of the 105, SpiceJet crew violated FTDL in 62 cases.