Air India's International Operations Suffer Massive Blow Due To Aircraft Unavailability Following DGCA's Additional Safety Checks On Its Boeing Dreamliners
Mumbai: The mandatory safety inspections ordered on Air India’s Dreamliner aircraft by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) after the Ahmedabad plane crash has affected the airline’s intercontinental routes with multiple flights getting delayed and cancelled. This includes the Ahmedabad to London AI-159 route, which replaced the ill-fated AI-171.
The London-bound Air India’s flight AI-171 saw one of the worst tragedies in the history of Indian aviation as it crashed into a medical college’s hostel, immediately after it took-off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12.
The incident led to the death of 241 of those onboard and several people at the site where the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed. Soon after the incident, the Director of Airworthiness at DGCA office ordered Air India to carry out enhanced safety checks on its Boeing 787-8/9 Dreamliner aircrafts. Air India presently has 33 of these aircraft in its fleet with more to arrive in the near future.
The effect of the safety checks was seen on the airline operations on Tuesday as the Ahmedabad-London flight AI-159 was cancelled shortly before its scheduled time to take-off due to unavailability of aircraft. This also led to the cancellation of the consequential flight no AI-170 from London Gatwick to Amritsar scheduled for Tuesday.
Notably, this is the same route on which the AI-171 that crashed last week was operating on. After the accident, Air India replaced the Ahmedabad to London flight number from AI-171 to AI-159.
On Tuesday, two more Air India’s international flights were cancelled. Flight AI-143 from Delhi to Paris scheduled to depart at 1.15pm and AI-915 from Delhi to Dubai scheduled to depart at 5pm were cancelled. Similarly, the Zurich to Delhi flight AI-152 saw a delayed departure by 1hr 11min on Monday and reached 35 minutes late on Tuesday morning.
It also resulted in cancellation of its consequential flight from Delhi to Vienna. The AI-149 from Goa to London Gatwick was also delayed on Tuesday. All these routes are operated using the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.
The airline confirmed that multiple routes are being cancelled and delayed due to unavailability of aircraft. This was attributed to the airspace restrictions in the Middle East and the additional precautionary checks, which led to longer than usual turnaround of aircraft.
The delays and cancellations have resulted in thousands of people stranded at multiple airports in India and other countries and has created a huge uproar among the passengers.
Replying to The Free Press Journal’s query about AI-159, an Air India spokesperson said, “We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers and have made alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination. We are providing hotel accommodation and also offering full refunds on cancellation or complimentary rescheduling if opted by the passengers.”
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