Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft that crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad for London on June 12 was well maintained and the aircraft as well as the engines were regularly monitored, showing no issues before the flight, CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said on Thursday.
"The plane was well-maintained, with its last major check in June 2023 and the next scheduled for December 2025. Its right engine was overhauled in March 2025, and the left engine was inspected in April 2025," Wilson said in an email written to members of Air India's loyalty programme.
Wilson stated that as directed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the airline has been conducting thorough safety inspections on its fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft. While inspections have been completed on 26 aircraft and these have been cleared for service, the remaining seven 787s are currently in planned maintenance and will have these additional checks done before being released into service, he added.
He pointed out that the time required to perform these enhanced safety checks, along with the application of extra caution, airspace closures in Iran and the Middle East as well as night-time restrictions at some international airports, along with normal airline technical issues, had led to a higher-than-usual number of cancellations on the carrier's long-haul network in the past few days.
In the last six days, Air India has had to cancel 83 flights.
Still, "as a confidence-building measure, we have elected to continue enhanced pre-flight safety checks on our Boeing 787 fleet and, as an added measure, our Boeing 777 aircraft, for the time being," said Wilson.
Air India announced on Wednesday that it will reduce its wide-body international flights by 15 per cent from June 20 till at least mid-July. For flyers whose flights are affected, Air India will offer full refunds or re-booking on another flight at no extra cost.
Curtailing the international flight schedule will allow the airline to have more backup aircraft ready to handle any unexpected issue, noted Wilson.
Air India's flight AI 171 crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport on June 12, leaving 241 of the 242 people on board including the crew. There were multiple casualties on the ground, as the plane crashed into buildings housing the hostel for BJ Medical College.