AI not to ground 787s; DGCA asks Boeing for info

Even as Japanese airlines have grounded their Boeing 787 Dreamliners due to recurrent safety issues, the national carrier, Air India, which operates around 6 of them currently, does not have any plans to ground them.

"We will go by what the Indian aviation regulator has said. The regulator has not asked us to ground the aircraft and we will continue to operate it," said a senior Air India official.

Early today, two Japanese airlines -All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) - grounded all 24 of their Dreamliner planes following a series of technical problems. These two carriers operate around half of the total Dreamliner aircraft in operation across the globe.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked for a status report on the planes from Boeing, which had not come till the time this report was going to print.

"None of the aviation regulators across the globe has ordered grounding of 787 Dreamliner and the airlines are grounding it. We have asked Boeing to provide us a report on these aircraft and a call will be taken accordingly," said a senior DGCA official.

An email sent to Boeing India from The Indian Express too remained unanswered.

Air India currently operates 6 Dreamliners and had ordered 27 of them in 2005. Of the six aircraft, three are operated in the domestic sector and the remaining in the international sector. The national carrier, in September last year, had also experienced a glitch in its Dreamliner's liquid cooling and electrical power system, which had led to grounding of three of these planes at that time. After the faults were rectified, these aircraft have been flying regularly.

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