NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation Tuesday expressed “concern regarding recent maintenance-related issues” reported by Air India and directed the airline to focus on safety while “strengthen(ing) internal coordination across engineering, operations, ground handling units”.Since a significant number of AI flights are being delayed or cancelled due to multiple factors – airspace closures and aircraft shortage due to technical issues and 787 checks – causing passenger inconvenience, the regulator has asked AI to “ensure availability of adequate spares to mitigate delays resulting from such issues & adhere to regulations”.A DGCA team led by DG Faiz Ahmed Kidwai summoned Tuesday a meeting with AI MD Campbell Wilson, director (flight operations) Captain Pankul Mathur, AI Express CEO Aloke Singh, and officials of both airlines, which operate over 1,000 domestic & international flights daily, to “review operations amid increasing flights”, and to “review the operational robustness of the airlines and ensure continued compliance with safety and passenger service regulations”.In the six days between between last Thursday (when AI 171 crashed) and 6pm Tuesday, AI operated 462 flights on its wide-body fleet of Boeing 787s, B777s and Airbus A350s, while canceling 83 flights. Of these, the B787s (one of which crashed in Ahmedabad) operated 248, or 53.7%, of the long hauls but accounted for almost 80% (66) of these cancellations for multiple reasons.In a statement after the meeting, DGCA said: “Recent surveillance conducted on AI Boeing 787 fleet did not reveal any major safety concerns. The aircraft and associated maintenance systems were found to be compliant with the existing safety standards.”AI now has 33 B787s. “Of these, four are undergoing major checks. As of 3pm on July 17, 24 aircraft have completed the required check. An additional two are planned for completion on Tuesday, with one more scheduled for Wednesday. The remaining six include two that are grounded in Delhi. Checks on these two will be carried out post-declaration of serviceability and prior to their return to service. The remaining four aircraft under MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) will undergo mandated check prior to their release from their maintenance hangars,” the regulator said.AI has been asked to implement “systematic and real-time defect reporting mechanism to ensure that operational and safety-critical departments get timely updates”.
