An
Air India Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft was grounded in Chennai airport on
Thursday morning.
The
move mirrors similar cautionary measures taken worldwide after a Dreamliner
made an emergency landing in Japan on Wednesday following a risk of fire
associated with battery failure.
The
director general of civil aviation, Arun Mishra, asked Air India to discontinue
operation of its six Dreamliners until safety concerns were addressed.
According
to an Air India official, the Dreamliner in Chennai was scheduled to leave for
New Delhi with 138 passengers at 10.45 a.m. on Thursday.
Following
the grounding instruction, the passengers, along with 80 others waiting to
board a Bangalore-bound flight, were accommodated in an Air India Airbus 330.
It took off to Banaglore at 11.45 a.m. and proceeded to New Delhi from there.
In
the following days, an expert committee from Mumbai will arrive in Chennai to
conduct tests on the Dreamliner.
The
aircraft, said to have been purchased to save an ailing Air India, made its
first trip from Chennai to Delhi on September 19 with much fanfare. The
Dreamliner boasts a state-of the-art in-flight entertainment system, flat-bed
recline, reading lamps, large LCD screens and enhanced gaseous filtration
system that lessens dizziness and headache inside the aircraft.
L.S.
Arun Baskar who travelled in the aircraft from Chennai to Delhi in November
said he experienced much more comfort on the flight.
“There
was less noise and that, in itself, made flying in the Dreamliner a good
experience,” he said.
The
aircraft also scored brownie points for its spacious and comfortable interiors.
“When
I wanted to sleep, the increased leg room and foot rests made it much more
comfortable,” said Satish Padmanabhan who has travelled in the Dreamliner
several times.
An
Air India official said technical experts would soon arrive to check the
condition of all the aircraft. “Just because some flights developed technical
snags doesn’t mean all of them will be faulty. But we want to rule out such a
possibility in all Dreamliner aircraft, and hence, the checks,” the official
said.
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