New Delhi: India may be considering the grounding of all Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners in service in the country pending a thorough probe into Thursday’s devastating air crash in Ahmedabad that caused the death of at least 265 people.
Air India has confirmed that 229 passengers and 12 crew members on board Flight AI 171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick in London were killed in the crash. Authorities in Ahmedabad have claimed that 265 bodies have been recovered so far from the crash site. This means that there were 24 deaths on the ground, including medical students staying at the hostel into which the plane crashed soon after take-off.
Air India alone has 27 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners. Its long-haul services are likely to be affected if the fleet is grounded.
Thursday’s crash was the first involving a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, since the aircraft entered service in 2011. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is a wide-body, twin-aisle passenger aircraft developed with a focus on fuel efficiency and technological innovation.
The aircraft involved in Thursday’s crash took its first flight on December 14, 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014. The Boeing 787, in its 14 years of service, had no prior history of serious incidents, building a reputation of a ‘safer’ bet among the Boeing family planes. That said, the 787 has not been entirely free of trouble.
In its early years, the Dreamliner faced significant issues related to its lithium-ion batteries. These problems caused onboard fires, prompting a global grounding of the fleet in 2013.
Even recently, there were reports of hydraulic leaks, flap malfunctions, and emergency landings on certain aircraft. While the 787 had not seen a crash until now, incidents involving repeated diversions and mechanical failures did raise questions.
In April 2024, Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour alleged that the company had taken dangerous shortcuts in the manufacturing of its 777 and 787 Dreamliner models. His complaint, first reported by The New York Times, was filed with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in January 2024.
