The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday (June 17) said that surveillance of Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet did not reveal any major safety concerns.

The fatal Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad last week sparked safety concerns and DGCA ordered enhanced surveillance of Air India’s 787 fleet.

“The recent surveillance conducted on Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet did not reveal any major safety concerns. The aircraft and associated maintenance systems were found to be compliant with existing safety standards,” DGCA said in a statement.

Air India’s fleet has 33 Boeing 787-8/9 planes.

“Of these, 4 aircraft are currently undergoing major checks at various MRO facilities. As of 3 PM on June 17, a total of 24 aircraft have successfully completed the required check. An additional 2 aircraft are planned for completion today, with 1 more scheduled for tomorrow. The remaining 6 aircraft include 2 aircraft, which are presently AOG at Delhi. The checks on these two will be carried out post-declaration of serviceability and prior to their return to service. The remaining 4 aircraft currently under MRO will undergo the mandated check prior to their release from the respective maintenance hangars,” the DGCA added.

Meanwhile, Air India on Tuesday cancelled a total of seven international flights, due to various reasons, including technical glitches and aircraft unavailability.

Six of the cancelled flights were scheduled to be operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, the same passenger mode involved in the Ahmedabad crash.

The flights cancelled include:

AI915 – Delhi to Dubai – B788 Dreamliner

AI153 – Delhi to Vienna – B788 Dreamliner

AI143 – Delhi to Paris – B788 Dreamliner

AI159 – Ahmedabad to London – B788 Dreamliner

AI170 – London to Amritsar – B788 Dreamliner

AI133 – Bengaluru to London – B788 Dreamliner

AI179 – Mumbai to San Francisco – B777

For Delhi-Paris, the cancellation was due to pre-flight checks revealing a technical issue while the disruption on the Ahmedabad-London sector was due to aircraft unavailability, the airline said.

Views: 2