New Delhi: Trouble continued for Air India, which, according to government data, had to cancel 16 flights on Tuesday, out of which seven were international flights. Most of these flights were cancelled because of pre-check issues, unavailability of the aircraft resulting from airspace restrictions in the Middle East and additional precautionary checks leading to longer than usual turnaround of aircraft.
As per data provided by the government, Air India on Tuesday operated 55 flights, out of which 30 were Boeing 787s. A total of 16 Air India flights were cancelled, of which 13 aircraft were Boeing 787 Dreamliners. This is a substantial number compared to last Tuesday (June 12), when out of Air India’s 50 Boeing 787s, only five were cancelled.
Some of the flights cancelled on Tuesday were on the Delhi-Paris, Ahmedabad-Gatwick (London), Delhi-Dubai, Bengaluru-London, Delhi-Vienna and London-Amritsar routes. In addition, the San Francisco-Mumbai route flight, Boeing 777-200 LR, was terminated at its scheduled stopover at Kolkata after one of its engines developed a technical snag.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) held a high-level meeting on Tuesday with senior officials of Air India and Air India Express, who are currently operating over 1,000 flights daily across domestic and international sectors. The meeting was convened to review the operational robustness of the airlines and ensure continued compliance with safety and passenger service regulations. The discussions focused on key issues like maintenance-related delays, airspace restrictions, Boeing 787 fleet surveillance, the status of the “enhanced safety inspection” of the Boeing 787-8/9 fleet of Air India, operational coordination, etc.
During the meeting the DGCA raised concerns regarding recent maintenance-related issues reported by Air India. The airline was advised to strengthen internal coordination across engineering, operations and ground handling units and ensure availability of adequate spares to mitigate passenger delays resulting from such issues and strictly adhere to regulations.
The recent surveillance conducted on Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet did not reveal any major safety concerns, the DGCA said, adding the aircraft and associated maintenance systems were found to be compliant with existing safety standards. With regard to the enhanced safety inspection of the entire Air India Boeing 787-8/9 fleet, comprising 33 aircraft, a total of 24 aircraft have successfully completed the required check.
The impact of recent airspace closures, particularly over Iranian airspace, was reviewed by DGCA during the meeting. The closures have led to flight diversions, delays and cancellations. The operators have been asked to ensure timely communication with passengers and crew and adopt alternate routing strategies to minimise disruptions.
The regulator recommended the implementation of a more systematic and real-time defect reporting mechanism to ensure that operational and safety-critical departments receive timely updates. This is expected to enhance overall decision-making and reduce downstream disruptions, a statement from the DGCA said.
The DGCA also reviewed recent operational data for Air India’s wide-body operations, with specific attention to the Boeing 787 fleet.
Giving details of some of its cancellations, Air India said in flight AI143 from Delhi to Paris the mandatory pre-flight checks identified an issue which was being addressed. “However, in view of the flight coming under the restrictions on night operations at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport, the said flight has been cancelled.”
Air India’s San Francisco-Mumbai flight, Boeing 777-200 LR, was terminated at its scheduled stopover at Kolkata after one of its engines developed a technical snag. The passengers were later sent to Mumbai through different flights. This flight, which is direct from San Francisco to Mumbai, had to go via Kolkata due to ongoing geopolitical events, including the closure of Pakistani airspace. The technical issue was detected during routine post-landing checks, and the airline decided to do a comprehensive check.
Another airline, IndiGo Kochi-Delhi flight, too, had to make an emergency landing in Nagpur due to a bomb threat. The flight had completed its Muscat to Kochi leg when it received the threat. This comes after an IndiGo flight from Goa to Lucknow on Monday experienced turbulence due to “active monsoon weather conditions in western India”.
On Tuesday, five days after an Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad claimed 270 lives, 162 victims have been identified through DNA matching and 120 bodies have been handed over to their families.
Meanwhile, Air India bid farewell to two of its pilots — Sumeet Sabharwal and Clive Kunder — who flew the ill-fated AI 171 and cabin crew supervisor Shradha Dhavan of the plane that crashed in Ahmedabad last week. Several Air India employees and colleagues attended their last rites in Mumbai.
As part of investigations of the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad, the DGCA has asked Air India for the training records of the pilots and dispatcher for the plane that crashed last week. Boeing’s head of commercial airplanes Stephanie Pope reportedly met Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran during a visit to the Air India headquarters in Gurgaon.
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