- The unfortunate crash of the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner scheduled to fly from Ahmedabad to Gatwick, London, claimed 274 lives, including passengers, crew members, and civilians of a Medical College and Hostel, causing devastation and heartache everywhere. Mind you, air travel is considered the safest transportation mode, with the advancement in civil aviation improving the standards manifold over the years. However, ever since the Tatas took over the struggling Air India a few years back, the expectations to set right the once ailing airline have not yielded the desired result despite the Maharaja making all the right noises. Travails of air travellers about Air India’s less-than-satisfactory standards have been reported extensively, but to no avail.
PC: Deccan Herald
- Most importantly, travellers need to be assured that the safety standards are not compromised at all. As such, Tata’s airline is facing many serious questions, even if the DGCA has cleared its Boeing 787 fleet now, as reported. Thus, the DGCA’s clean chit to Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet will partly soothe nerves strained by the AI 171 crash. As the old whistleblower’s concerns about the 787 Dreamliner resurfaced, the crash seemed like a chronicle of deaths foretold. But the aviation watchdog’s scrutiny of AI’s 787 fleet has not found any major safety concerns. That said, AI’s numerous Dreamline flight cancellations, 66 in the first five days after the crash, raise pertinent questions. Let’s dwelve further to comprehend the fast-evolving situation.
PC: News9 Live
- While some were on account of airspace restrictions, technical problems were blamed for the rest. Coming so soon after the crash, each new snag is one too many. It’s also a reality check for CEO Campbell Wilson, who claimed in an interview two weeks ago that heavy lifting is done. Or is it? In the airline business, heavy lifting isn’t merely about getting people from point A to point B. AI in its state-owned avatar did that, with bumps and scowls on the way, and accumulated debt of over 60,000cr. The whole point of the Tata takeover was to make the airline friendlier, safer, and profitable. It’s been 41 months since, but AI is still beset with teething troubles. DGCA data for Jan-Aug 2024 showed AI had 12x more complaints than rival IndiGo, per 10,000 passengers.
PC: Hindustan Times
- Worryingly, headlines this year haven’t been encouraging either. A minister stuck in a sagging seat, passengers stranded in a plane without air conditioning in 41 degrees Celsius heat, choked toilets on a Chicago-Delhi flight, and now a picture of a door sealed with paper napkins on a Delhi-Hong Kong flight. None of these suggests the top-class airline that the group chairman talked about in January. Some of this is down to poor crew training – recall how DGCA pulled up AI in 2023 for failing to report a drunk passenger who urinated on another. Some issues can be pinned on inadequate maintenance, given the demand for seats and shortages of planes. No one doubts AI’s growth potential. The Tatas must ensure AI pulls above its weight to deliver on desired lines.
