Air India faces turbulence as plane crash prompts deeper checks and disruptions
NEW DELHI, June 18, (AP): Air India is facing fresh turbulence following last week's fatal crash as additional safety inspections on its Dreamliner fleet have led to flight delays, cancellations, and growing passenger anxiety.
India's aviation safety regulator ordered deeper checks on Boeing 787 aircraft operated by the airline soon after its London-bound flight crashed during take-off in Ahmedabad city June 12, killing at least 270 people, including 241 passengers and crew.
The precautionary inspections, including closure of airspace in some middle eastern countries, have strained Air India operations across domestic and international routes.
Since the crash, Air India has cancelled operations of a total of 83 wide-body flights, including 66 Dreamliner, according to data shared by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India's aviation safety regulator.
"There is a cascading impact operationally. We are being extra cautious and doing extra checks beyond the usual,' a company executive familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.
The company on Tuesday announced cancellation of multiple flights, including one from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick. Another from Delhi to Paris was cancelled as a mandatory pre-flight check identified an unidentified issue, the airline said in a statement.
In a statement Tuesday, the aviation directorate said surveillance conducted on Air India's Dreamliner fleet so far has found no "major safety concerns.'
The aircraft and its associated maintenance systems were found to be compliant with existing safety standards, the directorate said, adding that of the 33 aircraft, 24 have completed the inspections, while four were undergoing long-term maintenance. The rest were expected to finish the safety checks soon.
The regulator, however, raised concerns about maintenance-related issues reported by the airline and advised it to "strictly adhere to regulations.' It asked Air India to strengthen internal coordination across engineering, operations, and ground handling units and ensure adequate availability of spares to mitigate flight delays.
Experts from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau are probing the crash with assistance from the U.K., the U.S., and officials from Boeing.
Aviation experts say the crash poses a temporary challenge for Air India, which was in midst of transforming itself from a financially troubled airline to a profitable venture. "If you ask me whether the accident will derail the ambitious growth plans, no way. There can be no looking back,' said Jitender Bhargava, a former Air India executive director.
The company already has placed huge orders for new aircraft to expand operations. The present challenge was to boost the morale of employees and passengers through confidence-building measures, Bhargava said.
"The faster you make people forget this one-off accident, the better it is,' Bhargava said. Indian conglomerate Tata Sons took over Air India in 2022, returning the debt-saddled national carrier to private ownership after decades of government control. The $2.4 billion deal was seen as the government's effort to sell off a loss-making, state-run businesses.
It also was in some ways a homecoming for Air India, which was launched by the Tata family in 1932. Since the takeover, Air India has ordered hundreds of new planes worth over $70 billion, redesigned its branding and livery and absorbed smaller airlines Tata held stakes in.
The company additionally has committed millions of dollars to digital overhauls of aircraft and refurbishing interiors of more than five dozen legacy planes. Air India has ordered nearly three dozen trainer aircraft and set up one of South Asia's largest training academy for professionals.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
6 hours ago
- Arab Times
Malaysian court drops money laundering charges against jailed Najib
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 21, (AP): A Malaysian court dropped three money laundering charges against jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak on Friday, in a case linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of a state fund. Najib was previously convicted in a graft case tied to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund, or 1MBD, and began serving time in 2022, after losing his final appeal. He also faces other graft trials. The High Court's decision to drop the charges alleging Najib received 27 million ringgit ($6.3 million) in illegal proceeds to his bank accounts came after procedural delays by the prosecution, which saw the case dragging on for six years, Najib's lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said. Prosecutors could not give the court a timeline for when they will be ready for the trial, he added. Prosecutors reserve the right to revive charges against Najib and a discharge does not mean an acquittal, Shafee said. But, Najib was happy and can now focus on the main 1MDB trial, he added. Najib set up 1MDB shortly after taking power in 2009. Investigators allege that more than $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by his associates to finance Hollywood films and extravagant purchases. The scandal upended Najib's government and he was defeated in the 2018 election. Last November, the High Court also discharged Najib and the former treasury chief in another 1MDB-linked corruption case after repeated delays by the prosecution. The pair can still be charged for the same offence in the future. In 2023, Najib was acquitted on separate charges of tampering with a government audit into 1MDB. Najib was sentenced to 12 years in jail in his first graft trial but the sentence was halved by the Pardon Boards in 2024. Najib alleged the board had issued a home arrest order for him to complete his sentence at home, but the case is still being heard in court. Najib awaits his verdict in another key case that ties him directly to the 1MDB scandal, which has prompted investigations in the US and several other countries. The defense in May closed their case on four charges of abuse of power to obtain over $700 million from 1MDB that went into Najib's bank accounts, and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same amount. Closing arguments are scheduled in October, after which the court will set a date for verdict.
Arab Times
6 hours ago
- Arab Times
Superyacht pulled from seabed 10 months after sinking off Sicily
ROME, June 21, (AP): A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing UK tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, partially resurfaced Saturday as salvage recovery crews finalized the complex operation to bring it ashore for further investigation. The white top and blue hull of the 56-meter (184-foot) Bayesian was visible on the surface but was not clear of the sea yet in a holding area of a yellow floating crane barge. "Pumping out of sea water will continue and it will be lunchtime, following a series of lifting and resting procedures to satisfy the salvage team, before Bayesian is fully and finally out of the water,' said David Wilson, spokesman for TMC Maritime, which is conducting the recovery operation. The Bayesian sank Aug. 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the US on fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. TMC Maritime said the vessel has been slowly raised from the seabed, 50 meters (165-feet) down, over the past three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. Eight steel lifting straps are being used to support the hull upright and to form part of a steel wire lifting system that began raising the vessel out of the water Saturday. As it is lifted up, sea water is pumped out of the hull. TMC Maritime said the vessel will be held upright, out of the water, for checks and preparations for its final journey. On Sunday, it is anticipated the floating crane platform will move the Bayesian to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese, where a special steel cradle is waiting for it. The Bayesian is missing its 72-meter (236-foot) mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. The mast had to be detached to allow the hull to be brought to a nearly upright position that would allow the craft to be raised. British investigators said in an interim report issued last month that the yacht was knocked over by "extreme wind' and couldn't recover.
Arab Times
2 days ago
- Arab Times
Flooding and rock slides close heavily damaged I-40 section in Smoky Mountains
HARTFORD, Tenn, June 19, (AP): Heavy rain, flooding and a rock slide have again closed a section of the major cross country highway Interstate 40 along its narrow corridor through the Great Smoky Mountains. The slide and flood happened Wednesday afternoon around mile marker 450 in Tennessee, just to the west of the state line with North Carolina, the Tennessee Department of Transportation said on social media. Crews continued to work Thursday to get the water and rock off the highway and had not released when they think the road could be reopened, the DOT said. The flooded section is part of 12 miles (19 kilometers) of I-40 in North Carolina and Tennessee that was washed away or heavily damaged by flooding that roared through the Pigeon River gorge during Hurricane Helene in late September. Crews repaired and shored up enough of the old highway to open one narrow lane in each direction in March. The lanes are separated by a curb several inches high that had to be removed to let vehicles stuck by the flooding and rockslide to turn around and go the other way. About 2.5 to 3.5 inches (63 mm to 89 mm) of rain fell in the area over about three hours, according to the National Weather Service. The permanent fix to stabilize what's left of the road will involve driving long steel rods into bedrock below the road, filling them with grout and spraying concrete on the cliff face to hold them in place. It will take years. I-40 runs from Wilmington. North Carolina to Barstow, California, and any detour around the Great Smoky Mountain section is dozens of miles. Trucks have gotten stuck on twisty narrow mountain roads and are banned on another major highway through the area U.S. 441 through Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
