New Delhi: Air India Express has admitted that it was reprimanded by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in March this year for not replacing engine parts of an Airbus A320 aircraft on time. The replacement of parts was to be done as per directions of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
What is more concerning is that the low-cost airline of the Air India Group falsified records to show compliance, a government memo has revealed, as per Reuters. Air India Express reportedly told the news agency that it acknowledged the error to the DGCA and undertook “remedial action and preventive measures”.
Airlines in India, particularly Air India, have been under intense scrutiny since the June 12 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad which killed 241 people on board and 19 on the ground. This is being described as the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.
The Air India Express’ Airbus engine issue was raised on March 18. DGCA has also warned parent Air India for breaching rules for flying three Airbus aircraft with overdue checks on escape slides. In June, after the Ahmedabad disaster, it pulled up Air India for ‘serious violations’ of pilot duty timings.
Air India Express has more than 115 aircraft and flies to more than 50 destinations, with 500 daily flights. EASA had, in 2023, issued an airworthiness directive to address a ‘potential unsafe condition’ on CFM International LEAP-1A engines, asking for replacement of some components such as engine seals and rotating parts, saying some manufacturing deficiencies had been found.
The agency’s directive said “this condition, if not corrected, could lead to failure of affected parts, possibly resulting in high energy debris release, with consequent damage to, and reduced control of, the aeroplane.”
The Indian government’s confidential memo in March, said that surveillance by the DGCA revealed the parts modification “was not complied” with on an engine of an Airbus A320 “within the prescribed time limit”.
“In order to show that the work has been carried out within the prescribed limits, the AMOS records have apparently been altered/forged,” the memo added, referring to the Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Operating System software used by airlines to manage maintenance and airworthiness.
The “mandatory” modification was required on Air India Express’ VT-ATD aircraft, the memo added. That plane typically flies on domestic routes and some international destinations such as Dubai and Muscat, according to the AirNav Radar website.
The lapse “indicates that the accountable manager has failed to ensure quality control,” the report added.
Air India Express told Reuters its technical team missed the scheduled implementation date for parts replacement due to the migration of records on its monitoring software, and fixed the problem soon after it was identified.
It did not give dates of compliance or directly address DGCA’s comment about records being altered, but said that after the March memo it took “necessary administrative actions”, which included removing the quality manager from his position and suspending the deputy continuing airworthiness manager.
The Indian government told parliament in February this year that authorities warned or fined airlines in 23 instances for safety violations last year. Three of those cases involved Air India Express, and eight Air India.
