India’s aviation safety watchdog has asked Air India for the training records of the pilots and dispatcher for the aircraft that crashed last week, as part of its investigation into the incident that killed at least 271 people.
Offering a measure of relief for Air India late on Tuesday, India’s aviation regulator said it had found no major safety flaws in the airline’s Dreamliner fleet but warned of persistent maintenance shortcomings and coordination lapses that could undermine reliability.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which conducted in-depth inspections of 24 Dreamliners, raised concerns over delays linked to spare-part shortages and weak internal coordination between engineering, ground handling, and operations teams.
Still, in a boost to the Tata owned airline, which is facing intense scrutiny after the crash, the DGCA said all inspected Dreamliners were compliant with existing aviation safety standards. The wide-body jets form the backbone of Air India’s long-haul network.
The DGCA also asked all flying schools to conduct training compliance checks, according to the confidential memos seen by Reuters news agency.
The DGCA said the requests were part of a “regulatory” review of the crash, and also sought details of action taken following the watchdog’s audits of Air India in the last few months. It asked for the details to be provided by Monday.
It was not clear whether Air India had complied with the directive. The airline and the DGCA did not respond to requests for comment.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London with 242 people on board began losing height seconds after take-off in Ahmedabad on Thursday before crashing into nearby buildings. Everyone on board was killed, bar a single passenger, along with about 30 on the ground.
Sumeet Sabharwal, who the Indian government has said had 8,200 flying hours of experience and was also an Air India instructor, was the commanding pilot of flight AI171. His co-pilot was Clive Kunder who had 1,100 hours of experience. Mr Sabharwal’s funeral took place in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Air India cancelled at least eight international flights operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners on Tuesday,
affecting services to cities including London, Paris, Vienna and Dubai. The airline cited a combination of aircraft unavailability, technical snags, airspace restrictions, and extended safety checks.
At least three other Dreamliner flights have been grounded or delayed in the past 48 hours, as India’s aviation regulator ordered rigorous pre-flight inspections across Air India’s fleet of 33 Dreamliners. A Boeing 777 operating the San Francisco-Mumbai route was also grounded because of a technical hitch.
The disruption came as pressure mounted on Air India and Boeing as the investigation into India’s deadliest plane crash in decades continued. Investigators are pursuing multiple theories, including what some independent experts believe may have been a catastrophic – and extremely rare – dual engine failure.
Air India’s Chairman N Chandrasekaran told staff on Monday the incident should be a catalyst to build a safer airline.
The DGCA, through a separate memo dated June 16th, also asked flying schools across the country to “strictly follow additional safety and operational measures”.
The regulator said instructors must check for compliance with procedures concerning training, maintenance and licensing, and co-ordinate flight plans with nearby airports in advance to ensure any emergencies are dealt with swiftly.
“Compliance will be assessed during audits/surveillance,” said the memo by the Directorate of Flying Training.
Stephanie Pope, the head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, visited Air India’s headquarters near New Delhi and met the airline’s chairman to discuss the crash.
The crash poses a new challenge for Air India, which the Tata Group bought in 2022 and has been trying to revamp, and Boeing, which is trying to rebuild public trust following a series of safety and production crises.
In a June 13th memo headed “updating airport emergency plan”, government-managed airports have also been asked to conduct a full-scale training exercise – typically an emergency drill – on June 30th. – Reuters
