Boeing Dreamliner safety: DGCA & Air India adopt 'wait and watch' stance

NEW DELHI: The Indian aviation regulator DGCA and national carrier Air India seem to have adopted a wait and watch stance, on the grounding of Boeing 787 or ‘ Dreamliner’ fleets by two big Japanese carriers-- Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways—due to serious technical snags.

While, Air India CMD Rohit Nandan calls the technical snags exhibited by their six Dreamliners as “common”, the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation thinks there is no cause to worry.

Reacting to a fuel leakage from one of the 7 Dreamliners with Japan Airlines in Boston last week, Air India CMD Rohit Nandan said, “fuel leakage is a common thing in aircraft. One of our A-320 is grounded in Tirupati because of the same problem.”

He also denied receiving any special communication from Boeing on the issue. “All flights are safe and examined by engineers before every take off,” he added.

Interestingly, Air India's first Dreamliner developed a snag on the first day of its commercial operations wherein a cooling unit, meant to prevent the power generating equipment of the aircraft from getting overheated, malfunctioned when the aircraft was being pushed back.

But it was only the beginning. AI itself has experienced several technical snags on the B-787s repeatedly.

“If you buy a newly-launched car, there will always be new problems, which can be rectified. This is the same situation,” another senior AI executive explained.

Meanwhile DGCA chief Arun Mishra also says that there is no need to worry as a team of three Boeing engineers are stationed in Delhi to look after B-787 problems.

“I don’t see any cause of being alarmed and having an inquiry. What should I enquire about if there no lapses have been reported?” Mishra told ET.

All Nippon Airways - the world's first carrier to receive the Dreamliner from Boeing after years of delays - said a battery problem triggered a cockpit error message that forced the pilots to land the plane in southwestern Japan.

Both ANA and its rival Japan Airlines (JAL) - which together are among Boeing's biggest customers for the Dreamliner - said they would ground their entire 787 fleets pending safety checks. ANA has 17 Dreamliners in operation and JAL has seven.