While India's aviation sector maybe the fastest-growing in the world, it is far from the safest. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a record 422 air safety violations were detected in 2016 against 275 in 2015.

DGCA sources said that airline staff, including pilots, are facing regulatory action for safety violations like turning up drunk to fly or for being involved in accidents. The staff were also found guilty of flying more than the permitted hours.

The 422 enforcement actions by DGCA included suspensions, de-rostering staff (taken off flying duty) and warnings. While 272 crew members were suspended, 42 pilots were de-rostered and 108 were warned. These violations were 54 per cent higher than the regulatory action taken against 275 cockpit and cabin crew members in 2015. The maximum suspension period for airline staff is eight weeks, in which time they are given corrective training before being allowed to fly again.

In 2015, the regulator had also got first information reports registered against two pilots (one each of Air India and Jet) and three cabin crew members (two of AI and one of Jet), who were found tipsy after operating international routes in post-flight breath analyser (BA) tests.

The rising number of violations comes at a time when officials of the United Nations aviation watchdog, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), is coming to India later this year for a 10-day safety audit of DGCA. The audit will be important because it will have consequences for the expansion plans of airlines such as Jet Airways (India) Ltd, Air India and the international launch of the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture, Vistara, which will have to meet government norms to go international in 2018.

In 2012, after a DGCA audit, the ICAO had placed India in its list of 13 worst-performing nations in terms of air safety oversight. In 2014, US aviation regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), had also downgraded India's ranking. However, after 15 months, the ratings were restored, but during the 15-month period, Indian carriers were not allowed to add new routes to the US or sign agreements with US airlines.

Jet Airways topped the list of safety violations with 116, followed by SpiceJet (101). Air India came third with 66, and IndiGo saw 55 of its crew members being punished.

Elaborating on the safety violations, an official said: "Budget carriers SpiceJet and GoAir had wet-leased aircraft (where planes are taken on rent along with the crew). Two foreign pilots of these planes were found tipsy in pre-flight BA tests. We immediately asked the airlines to send those pilots back to their home countries, meaning that they should not continue flying here. We also wrote to the aviation regulators of their home countries."

DGCA sources said there were more safety violations in 2014 due to extra surveillance on private planes used by political leaders for campaigning during general elections that year. Reasoning the increase in number of violations last year, the official explained that risk-based audits have help them crack the most on discrepancies. "Under the risk-based audit, we got into the whole training process of an airline. This has helped us detect and rectify a lot of flaws," said the official.