Mumbai: The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has sought the grounding of Air India's Boeing 787 aircraft and a special audit of the airline's Dreamliner fleet following a series of electrical malfunctions reported in recent months in a letter to civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu.
The pilots' body said recurring electrical and automation failures on Air India's Boeing 787s have raised serious safety concerns.
It pointed to two recent mid-air incidents and linked the rise in technical snags to the airline's shift from Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) to its in-house engineering team.
In a letter dated October 10, the FIP said, "Since 16 June 2025, we have reiterated that all B-787s in the country must be checked thoroughly for the electrical systems."
The association cited the October 9 incident involving flight AI-154 from Vienna to Delhi, which diverted to Dubai "after major technical issues where the autopilot system suddenly failed triggering a series of technical malfunctions."
According to the letter, the aircraft experienced failures across critical systems - including the autopilot, Instrument Landing System (ILS), and flight directors - and suffered flight control system degradation with no autoland capability. The pilots, the FIP said, were "constrained to fly manually at night" and diverted safely to Dubai.
Earlier this month the ram air turbine (RAT) deployed uncommanded on flight AI-117 during approach to Birmingham. "Two incidents of electrical malfunctions in a short span of time are indicators of poor serviceability by Air India," the letter said.
The FIP said that "the safety of air travel is being compromised by not investigating the causes of failures on B-787s in the country" and added that "the incidents have been on the rise since the time newly hired Air India engineers have been maintaining the aircraft." It said the problems "were much less till the time AIESL was looking after maintenance of Air India aircraft."
The pilots' federation has requested the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to conduct a "special audit of all B-787s" focusing on electrical systems, repetitive snags, and minimum equipment list (MEL) releases.
The pilots' body said recurring electrical and automation failures on Air India's Boeing 787s have raised serious safety concerns.
It pointed to two recent mid-air incidents and linked the rise in technical snags to the airline's shift from Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) to its in-house engineering team.
In a letter dated October 10, the FIP said, "Since 16 June 2025, we have reiterated that all B-787s in the country must be checked thoroughly for the electrical systems."
The association cited the October 9 incident involving flight AI-154 from Vienna to Delhi, which diverted to Dubai "after major technical issues where the autopilot system suddenly failed triggering a series of technical malfunctions."
According to the letter, the aircraft experienced failures across critical systems - including the autopilot, Instrument Landing System (ILS), and flight directors - and suffered flight control system degradation with no autoland capability. The pilots, the FIP said, were "constrained to fly manually at night" and diverted safely to Dubai.
Earlier this month the ram air turbine (RAT) deployed uncommanded on flight AI-117 during approach to Birmingham. "Two incidents of electrical malfunctions in a short span of time are indicators of poor serviceability by Air India," the letter said.
The FIP said that "the safety of air travel is being compromised by not investigating the causes of failures on B-787s in the country" and added that "the incidents have been on the rise since the time newly hired Air India engineers have been maintaining the aircraft." It said the problems "were much less till the time AIESL was looking after maintenance of Air India aircraft."
The pilots' federation has requested the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to conduct a "special audit of all B-787s" focusing on electrical systems, repetitive snags, and minimum equipment list (MEL) releases.
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