AI171 crash: Air India received nine notices for safety violations in six months, says govt

Air India has received nine show cause notices in the past six months, all tied to five safety violation, junior civil aviation minister Murlidhar Mohol told lawmakers on Monday. 

The minister added that enforcement action had been completed in one case, but no specific details of the violations were disclosed, Reuters reported.

The national carrier has come under increased scrutiny following the crash of flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 en route from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick on June 12, which killed 260 people — including 241 on board and 19 on the ground. The aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff and ploughed into a doctors' hostel.

In the aftermath, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered checks on Air India’s Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 fleet. Out of 33 Dreamliners, 31 operational aircraft were inspected. Minor issues were flagged in eight planes and rectified.

Two aircraft remain under scheduled maintenance, Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu informed the Upper House. He was responding to a question from BJP member Ashokrao Shankarrao Chavan.

In a separate written reply, MoS Mohol said that no adverse trends were reported in Air India’s reliability records for the crashed aircraft over the past six months. He was responding to a question by MP John Brittas about whether passengers or the DGCA had raised concerns earlier.

In a separate reply, the minister confirmed there are 33 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in the fleet of Indian carriers. Asked whether the government plans to ground the aircraft type or order a CBI probe, the response was:

“No such proposal is under consideration.”

An official investigation is ongoing to determine the cause and contributing factors of the tragedy. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) published a preliminary report on July 12.

With inputs from ANI