Air India Maintenance Under Scrutiny in AI 171 Crash Probe
Ahmedabad: Air India’s maintenance standards could come under further scrutiny in connection with the investigation into the AI 171 plane crash, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) president Captain C S Randhawa said on Thursday. He cited past Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) audit findings that highlighted repetitive snags and maintenance deficiencies at the airline.
The FIP chief alleged that maintenance-related issues at Air India could not be ruled out, referencing observations made by the DGCA last year. “As stated by the minister in Parliament, 138 out of 166 Air India aircraft had repetitive snags. By comparison, IndiGo had 148 out of 405 aircraft,” Randhawa said.
He further claimed that DGCA audits flagged maintenance shortcomings, with “more than 300 findings” emerging during inspections at the airline.
An Air India spokesperson responded by stating that the airline undertook a “voluntary safety pause” after the AI 171 crash, temporarily reducing flights to carry out additional checks on Boeing 787 aircraft under DGCA oversight. The spokesperson said inspections of Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft, as well as fuel control switch checks on Boeing 737 and 787-8 planes, found no issues. Air India also said it strengthened its risk-based audit framework, increasing the frequency of operational audits beyond DGCA-mandated requirements.
Randhawa also noted that after Air India’s separation from AI Engineering Services Limited, several experienced engineers were no longer involved in servicing aircraft. “Now engineers are coming from other sources, including NSOPs, general aviation, or smaller aircraft backgrounds. That too could be an issue,” he said.
He maintained that maintenance standards and repetitive technical snags should be examined as part of the wider probe into the crash.
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