Air India Responds to Pilots' Federation Demand to Ground Boeing 787 Fleet Following Technical Incidents

New Delhi:

The Federation of Indian Pilots has called for the 'grounding of all Boeing 787 planes' following reports of electronic malfunctions on two Air India flights. Their demand stems from incidents involving AI-154, a Vienna-Delhi service diverted to Dubai on October 9 due to multiple system failures including autopilot and flight controls, and the RAT deployment on AI-117 during landing in Birmingham on October 4.

The pilots' organization suggested these incidents reflect 'poor serviceability by Air India' and implied a connection to the replacement of government-owned AIESEL engineers with newly-hired personnel.

Air India has firmly rejected claims of electrical failure in the Birmingham incident and stated that the RAT deployment in the Dubai diversion was 'neither due to a system fault nor pilot action'.

An airline spokesperson explained that AI-154 was diverted for technical reasons and landed safely in Dubai. Passengers were kept informed about delays, provided with refreshments, and eventually completed their journey on the same aircraft, arriving in Delhi without further incident Friday morning.

"At Air India, the safety of passengers and crew remain top priority," the spokesperson emphasized.

Regarding the AI-117 incident, Air India confirmed the aircraft landed safely despite RAT deployment during final approach. The spokesperson noted 'all electrical and hydraulic parameters to be normal'.

"Based on our preliminary investigation, deployment of the RAT was 'un-commanded', consistent with similar occurrences with other airlines in the past and as reported by Boeing."

The airline confirmed notification to the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation and submission of a preliminary report as required. The aircraft has subsequently been cleared to return to service.

This response followed a letter from the Federation of Indian Pilots referencing the June 12 AI-171 crash that claimed 260 lives, including passengers, crew members, and people on the ground.

"The safety of air travel is being compromised by not investigating the causes of failures on B-787's in the country," the pilots stated in their letter to Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu.

AI-171 was a London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad when it failed to generate thrust and nosedived into a nearby residential area.

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