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.
A total of seven Dreamliner-operated routes saw cancellations in one day, including 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, many such Air India’s international routes, operated using the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, 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 resulting in cancellation of the return flight AI-142.
Similarly, the AI-153 from Delhi to Vienna was also cancelled on Tuesday. The AI-149 from Goa to London Gatwick was also delayed on Tuesday. The flight AI-133 from Bengaluru to London, which was scheduled to depart at 2.15pm was also cancelled. All these routes are operated using the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.
Similarly, Zurich to Delhi flight AI-152 operated through Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner saw a delayed departure by 1hr 11min on Monday and reached 35 minutes late on Tuesday morning.
Moreover, a series of non-Dreamliner aircraft routes also saw cancellations and delays on Tuesday. AI-180 from San Francisco to Mumbai via Kolkata was terminated at Kolkata after the airline reported a technical snag in routine check.
This resulted in cancellation of AI-179 from Mumbai to San Francisco, which was scheduled to depart at 1.10pm on Tuesday but was cancelled. The Hong Kong-Delhi flight AI-315 on Monday was diverted back to origin after a suspected technical issue.
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.”
