More than seven out of every ten aircraft reviewed in the Air India Group fleet have shown recurring technical defects, according to official data tabled in Parliament on Thursday, putting the airline group at the top of the list among Indian carriers reviewed for such issues.
The figures, presented in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol, reveal that 191 of the 267 aircraft operated by Air India Group were identified with repetitive defects during inspections conducted since January last year.
Within the Air India Group, 137 of 166 Air India aircraft and 54 of 101 Air India Express planes were found to have recurring issues during inspections.
Responding to the data, an Air India official said, "We have, out of abundant caution, carried out checks across our fleet. Hence, numbers are higher."
Offering further clarification, a top Air India executive said there are different types of equipment which are checked on planes and that these are categorised into A, B, C and D segments, depending on priority and urgency.
"In case of Air India, most of the issues are with category D, which includes items like seats, tray tables, screens (on the back of seats) and so on. These are not related to the safety of the aircraft," the executive said.
The executive added that "as the retrofit programme for narrow-body aircraft rolls out over the next two years, these issues will be resolved too."
Across the industry, a total of 754 aircraft belonging to six scheduled airlines were analysed for recurring deficiencies, of which 377 planes were flagged for repeated technical issues.
India's largest carrier IndiGo had 405 aircraft examined during the period. Of these, 148 planes were identified as having repetitive defects as of February 3 this year, the data showed.
Other airlines also reported such defects, with SpiceJet recording 16 affected aircraft out of 43 analysed, while Akasa Air saw 14 aircraft flagged from 32 reviewed planes.
The government also shared details of aviation safety oversight carried out by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). During the previous year, the regulator conducted 3,890 surveillance inspections, 56 regulatory audits, 84 checks on foreign aircraft, and 492 ramp inspections as part of planned monitoring.
In addition, 874 spot checks and 550 night surveillance inspections were carried out under unplanned safety oversight activities, the minister said.
On staffing, the government informed Parliament that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aviation regulator, had 637 sanctioned technical posts in 2022, a number that has now been increased to 1,063 following a restructuring exercise aimed at strengthening regulatory capacity.
from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/iZWN6zg
