Amid flight cancellations, DGCA says checks on Air India’s 787 fleet revealed no safety concerns
The recent checks conducted on Air India’s Boeing 787 aircraft fleet after the plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 did not reveal major safety concerns, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said on Tuesday amid the cancellation of several flights.
“The aircraft and associated maintenance systems were found to be compliant with existing safety standards,” the civil aviation regulator said after a meeting with Air India and Air India Express officials.
On Tuesday, Air India cancelled 16 flights that were to use wide-body planes. Of these, 13 were scheduled to use Boeing 787 aircraft, the regulator said.
Since the June 12 crash, 83 flights operated on wide-body aircraft such as the 787 Dreamliner and Boeing 777 have been cancelled, The Hindu quoted the regulator as saying. Of these, 66 were scheduled to use 787s.
The delays and non-availability of aircraft for some flights on Tuesday were due to enhanced safety inspections mandated by the DGCA and airspace closures in West Asia, The Indian Express quoted unidentified officials as saying.
Two hundred and forty-two persons were aboard the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft – enroute to London’s Gatwick airport from Ahmedabad – that crashed just 33 seconds after taking off on June 12. Only one passenger survived with “impact injuries”.
The aircraft’s crash into the hostel building of the BJ Medical College also killed at least 33 persons on the ground....
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