The commander of an Air India Ltd. flight that hit severe turbulence last week will undergo a second round of drug screening to confirm whether he was under the influence of a psychoactive substance.
Samples have been “sent to the designated laboratory for confirmatory analysis, and the final report is awaited,” India’s government said in statement on Sunday, adding that the results will show if any drug intake may have affected his response as the aircraft dropped 300 feet mid-air. The incident, which occurred on Aug. 4 and is being probed by India’s Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau, left several passengers and cabin crew members injured.
Any safety concern carries outsized weight in India, where the deadly crash of an Air India Boeing Co. Dreamliner last year still looms large. For incoming Air India chief executive officer Tewolde Gebremariam, one of the top priorities is getting the airline’s turnaround back on track after a record loss of 220 billion rupees ($2.3 billion) in the year ended March 31, 2026.
Revenue fell to 718.7 billion rupees in the year through March from 786.4 billion rupees a year earlier, the carrier’s annual report showed.
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Bloomberg News previously reported that Air India began the last fiscal year on solid footing, turning an operating profit in the first weeks of April 2025. That reversed after Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian carriers following a brief conflict in May, forcing longer routes to the US and Europe. The June crash, which killed more than 240 people, sent the airline reeling, and turmoil in the Middle East deepened its troubles.
Screening for psychoactive substances is standard procedure in critical investigations, and a non-negative reading in the first test requires a confirmatory one. Under rules set by India’s aviation regulator, an employee who tests positive for the first time is referred to a de-addiction or rehabilitation program.
To return to safety-sensitive duties, that employee must be re-tested and come clean. A second positive test, however, leads to a three-year license suspension, while a third positive test results in permanent cancellation of the license.