The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said it would punish airlines whose pilots fail alcohol tests the maximum NT$3 million (US$98,036) permitted by the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法).
Along with fines, points will be deduced from airlines on reviews of their air transport rights, the CAA said on Friday, announcing a “zero tolerance” policy on impaired flight safety.
The announcement was made after a Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) and a China Airlines (CAL) pilot were tested for alcohol consumption before flying and found to be over the legal limit.
Only three such cases have been reported the past 15 years. The first was in 2011 when a Daily Air Corp pilot was suspended for three months, but the airline was not disciplined, the CAA said.
The agency said it would not tolerate any more violations, adding that it would revoke pilots’ licenses and fine airlines.
A FAT pilot on March 7 recorded a blood-alcohol level of 0.52 milligrams per liter (mg/L) just before he was to fly a commercial plane from Kaohsiung to Magong, Penghu County.
The legal limit is less than 0.1mg/L, stipulated by the Aircraft Flight Operation Regulations.
The CAA on Thursday said it revoked the FAT pilot’s license and he was fired soon after he failed the alcohol test. The airline was fined NT$600,000.
On Tuesday a Salvadoran CAL pilot was about to fly Mandarin Airlines flight AE1817 from Taichung to Hong Kong when he failed an alcohol test.
Mandarin Airlines is a subsidiary of CAL.
The CAA is still investigating the case and results are expected early next month.
It is unclear if the CAA will apply its zero tolerance policy to the CAL case.
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