New Delhi, Sept. 10 -- India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has asked airlines to carry out a one-time drug screening of all pilots by July next year, a government official said, amid a series of recent incidents involving crew members allegedly found under the influence of drugs.

The testing process has already begun across airlines, the official told reporters in New Delhi, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement by the DGCA.

The directive comes after an unusual incident involving an Air India-operated Airbus SE A320, in which all three hydraulic systems reportedly failed simultaneously. Such a failure is considered extremely rare given the aircraft's multiple layers o...