MUMBAI: Hours
after an alert by the US aviation regulator, Air India on Thursday grounded all its six Boeing-787 Dreamliners and Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told ET the fleet will fly only after the US
Federal Aviation Authority and the Indian regulator give the all-clear.
"Air India today temporarily stopped operations of itsBoeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on the directive of the country's aviation regulatory authority, the DGCA," the airline said in a statement.
Air safety authorities across the globe scrambled into action after the FAA directive warned of a potential fire hazard on the state-of-the-art aircraft. Besides the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the European Air Safety Agency too directed airlines to ground all B-787 aircraft.
"This AD (airworthiness directive) was prompted by recent incidents involving lithium ion battery failures that resulted in release of flammable electrolytes, heat damage, and smoke on two 787-8 airplanes. The cause of these failures is currently under investigation. We are issuing this AD to prevent damage to critical systems and structures, and the potential for fire in the electrical compartment," the FAA said.
Not Rethinking B-787 Order Yet, says Ajit Singh
Singh said the aviation ministry was in touch with Boeing and it was too early to say with clarity when the problem involving the aircraft will be resolved.
"Air India today temporarily stopped operations of itsBoeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on the directive of the country's aviation regulatory authority, the DGCA," the airline said in a statement.
Air safety authorities across the globe scrambled into action after the FAA directive warned of a potential fire hazard on the state-of-the-art aircraft. Besides the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the European Air Safety Agency too directed airlines to ground all B-787 aircraft.
"This AD (airworthiness directive) was prompted by recent incidents involving lithium ion battery failures that resulted in release of flammable electrolytes, heat damage, and smoke on two 787-8 airplanes. The cause of these failures is currently under investigation. We are issuing this AD to prevent damage to critical systems and structures, and the potential for fire in the electrical compartment," the FAA said.
Not Rethinking B-787 Order Yet, says Ajit Singh
Singh said the aviation ministry was in touch with Boeing and it was too early to say with clarity when the problem involving the aircraft will be resolved.
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"Right now, there is no clarity on the issue and everything will depend on the findings from Boeing and FAA and also our engineers and the DGCA," Singh told ET, adding that things will become clearer after a couple of days. The minister said at the moment the government was not reviewing the $4-billion order for 27 Dreamliners, placed in 2005.
"This issue (reviewing the order) will be contingent upon what actually the problem is and the findings by the manufacturer, the FAA and the DGCA," Singh said. Alarmed by recurring incidents reported by Japanese carriers ANA and JAL, some minor incidents involving Air India and the FAA's directive, Boeing moved quickly to assure airlines of Dreamliner's safety.
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"We are confident the 787 is safe and we stand behind its overall integrity. We will be taking every necessary step in the coming days to assure our customers and the traveling public of the 787's safety and to return the airplanes to service," Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney said in a statement.
McNerney said the safety of passengers and the crew was paramount and added that Boeing was committed to move fast to resolve the issue at the earliest. Boeing's rival Airbus hoped the problem will be over soon. "We want to see the B-787 back in the air and wish our colleagues at Boeing a fast recovery to flight. We have a strong family of Airbus to compete with Boeing and we don't need to battle with safety. Both Airbus and Boeing have an excellent safety record, and safety is our No. 1 priority in the industry," Kiran Rao, Airbus executive V-P (sales & marketing) and president Airbus (India) told ET.
Meanwhile, Air India went into a huddle at its board meet on Thursday over the issue as the airline, which has a commitment of Rs 30,000 crore of equity support from the government over the next 20 years, is banking heavily on the Dreamliner to turn its fortunes around.
With the Dreamliner, the national carrier wanted to start flights to Melbourne and Sydney, which had been postponed for long for want of the right aircraft type. "Dreamliner is a gamechanger for Air India and it is very much a cornerstone of out turnaround plan. We are hoping the issue will be resolved soon," said a top Air India official.
Air India will deploy another wide-bodied
aircraft fromBoeing, the B-777 ER, which
it previously deployed on the European routes. A senior Air India official said
the airline India has six 777ERs and of these six one aircraft each was for the
Paris and Frankfurt route and three were flying domestically with one aircraft
as standby.
"There is absolute certainty that flights to Europe will not be curtailed. We will fly the B-777s on the European routes...(But) we will have to curtail capacity on domestic routes," the official said. Air India hopes the Dreamliner problem is sorted out within a week, since then the airline will not be impacted much in revenue terms. Air India's revenues are on an upswing and for the quarter ended September, government data showed that revenues had perked up by over 6%, compared to the previous quarter, to Rs 388 crore.
"Currently, the B-787s account for merely 3-4% of our passenger revenues. If rectified soon, the problem will have little impact on Air India's revenues," said the executive. After deploying the B-787 on the Delhi-Frankfurt route from October last year, the route became profitable for the first time after four years. Air India had deployed the aircraft on its Paris route barely a week ago.
"There is absolute certainty that flights to Europe will not be curtailed. We will fly the B-777s on the European routes...(But) we will have to curtail capacity on domestic routes," the official said. Air India hopes the Dreamliner problem is sorted out within a week, since then the airline will not be impacted much in revenue terms. Air India's revenues are on an upswing and for the quarter ended September, government data showed that revenues had perked up by over 6%, compared to the previous quarter, to Rs 388 crore.
"Currently, the B-787s account for merely 3-4% of our passenger revenues. If rectified soon, the problem will have little impact on Air India's revenues," said the executive. After deploying the B-787 on the Delhi-Frankfurt route from October last year, the route became profitable for the first time after four years. Air India had deployed the aircraft on its Paris route barely a week ago.
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