New Delhi: More than seven out of every ten aircraft in the Air India fleet that were reviewed have recurring technical defects, as per the official data tabled in Parliament.
With this, the carrier is top among Indian carriers evaluated for repetitive deficiencies. The figure was presented in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol.
The data reveals that as many as 191 of 267 aircraft operated by the Air India Group were found to have repetitive faults during examinations held since January 2025. Within the group, 137 of 166 Air India planes and 54 out of 101 Air India Express aircraft were identified to have recurring issues during inspections. aviation audit on air india, as reported by Financial Express.
Air India reacted by citing the higher numbers to caution-led checks. “We have, out of abundant caution, carried out check across our fleet. Hence, numbers are higher,” NDTV quoted an Air India official as saying.
Aircraft checks were carried out on multiple equipment categories, which are grouped into A, B, C, and D segm
ents based on priority and urgency, a senior official explained.
“In case of Air India, most of the issues are with category D, which includes items like seats, screens (on the back seats), tables, and so on. These are not related to the safety of the aircraft,” it was explained, as reported by PTI. The executive further added that the airline expects these concerns to be relieved as the narrow-body retrofit programme will be launched over the next two years.
The Centre also mentioned that 754 aircraft across six scheduled airlines were inspected for recurring deficiencies. A total of 377 aircraft were marked for repetitive technical issues. Indigo had 405 aircraft evaluated, out of which 148 were flagged with repetitive defects. Akasa Air had 14 flights identified out of 32 examined, and SpiceJet accounted for 16 aircraft out of the 43 that were evaluated.
The government also shared details on oversight actions by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The regulator conducted 3,890 surveillance inspections last year. In which 84 examinations were done on foreign aircraft (SOFA), 56 regulatory audits were held, and 492 ramp inspections were carried out, as reported by PTI. A total of 874 spot checks were also done, and 550 night surveillance scrutinies were done under unplanned oversight.
DGCA had 637 sanctioned technical posts in 2022, the government informed the Parliament. To boost strengthening capacity, this post has been raised to 1,063.