The Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation has stated that there are no major safety concerns regarding Air India's Boeing 787 fleet. This announcement follows a high-level meeting with senior representatives from Air India and its low-cost subsidiary, Air India Express. The purpose of the meeting was to review the operational robustness of the airlines and ensure compliance with safety and passenger regulations.
The Ministry confirmed that inspections of some of Air India's Boeing 787 aircraft did not reveal any significant safety issues. The fleet, which includes 27 Boeing 787-8s and seven 787-9s, is compliant with existing safety standards. However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) raised concerns about recent maintenance-related issues reported by Air India. The airline was advised to improve internal coordination across engineering, operations, ground handling units, and ensure adequate spare parts availability to mitigate passenger delays.
An 'enhanced safety inspection' mandated by the DGCA applies to all 34 aircraft in Air India's 787 fleet. As of June 17th, inspections on 24 aircraft had been completed successfully. Two more were expected to be inspected by the end of June 17th, and one more on June 18th. Six remaining aircraft include two currently grounded at Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport.