It’s awaiting U.S. probe report on safety
Air India has ruled out any immediate action to ground Dreamliners even
as it awaits a formal communication from the U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration or the manufacturer, Boeing, on the safety aspects of the new
aircraft.
The Director-General of Civil Aviation is also planning to undertake a
safety review although no complaint has been received on the functioning or
operational capacity of the aircraft in the recent past. “There are no plans to
ground the Dreamliners right now. They are functioning quite smoothly and
efficiently on domestic and international routes,” a senior Civil Aviation Ministry
official said here.
The safety review comes in view of glitches faced in some planes in the
past.
The AI assertion comes hours after Japanese airlines ANA and JAL
grounded all 24 of their Dreamliners following a series of technical problems.
“We are in close touch with Boeing and Air India. Boeing will be giving us an
update on the electrical problems some of these planes have suffered,”
officials said.
“Air India and the Ministry are awaiting the findings of the FAA probe
into the problems faced by Boeing 787s. There is nothing that can be done in
the present situation. We have already carried out inspections on our aircraft
on our own, including the lithium ion batteries,” the senior official said.
The U.S. aircraft major last Friday jointly announced investigations
with the FAA after three Dreamliners owned by the Japanese carriers suffered
malfunctions this month — an electrical fire, fuel leakage and a broken cockpit
window.
Of the 27 B-787s ordered by AI in January 2006, six of them have been
delivered and the airline operates flights to Dubai, Paris and Frankfurt with
Dreamliners. Six more will join the AI fleet by December and the other jets
will be inducted through 2016.
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