Another wake-up call for AI-operated Dreamliner

A day after a Melbourne landing glitch, AI plane needs to make emergency landing in Delhi; tour operators worried

Travel agencies and air passengers’ associations have expressed concern over the recurrence of technical glitches in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India (AI).

The latest in the series of mishaps that has dogged the government carrier’s most recent aircraft addition was early on Monday morning, when a AI flight enroute New Delhi developed a fault in its braking system, which necessitated a priority landing at the Indira Gandhi international airport.

The aircraft had 174 passengers and made a priority landing after some warning lights indicated a problem. “We have taken up the matter with Boeing. The technical problem in the aircraft has been resolved and it will be pressed into service. The remaining deliveries of 787s will take place as scheduled,” said an official in the airline.

This comes only a day after the windshield of an AI Delhi-Melbourne-Sydney flight, serviced by a Dreamliner, developed cracks on landing at Melbourne.

D Sudhakara Reddy, president, Air Passengers Association of India, said: “We are very concerned. The aircraft (Dreamliner) had been grounded worldwide in January (after earlier operational glitches) and now problems are surfacing recurrently. These may be termed as teething problems, but with no decisive action being taken, who will be held accountable if an unfortunate incident takes place?”

Though no cancellations have been reported yet in reservations made on Dreamliners, travel agencies have expressed concern on the latest happening.

“We have seen no cancellations yet, given that both the incidents have happened in the last 24 hours. But given that a series of glitches have surfaced back to back, there is bound to be some impact on demand. It will play on consumers’ minds,” said a senior executive at a leading travel portal.

Subhash Goel, president, Indian Association of Tour Operators, added: “So far, passengers have been preferring the Dreamliner because the aircraft is more spacious and comfortable. Technical problems occur in all types of aircraft. But if these incidents continue, there will an impact on demand.”

The Dreamliner has been facing many problems, which started with cases of its batteries catching fire in January, forcing airlines across the world, including AI, to ground their entire fleet of the aircraft for a few months. On October 12, a panel fell off an AI Delhi-Bangalore Dreamliner.

Last week, aircraft manufacturer Boeing said it was going to focus all its energy to further improve the plane’s reliability. Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president (sales, Asia-Pacific and India), said: “We have a team in place here which monitors the operations. We develop plans together as to how we are going to fix it and we are already in that mode. Today, worldwide, we are at 97 per cent reliability. We are not pleased with that; we will improve that.”

He insisted it was a safe airplane and had never caused concern on this aspect.

The directorate-general of civil aviation, along with Boeing and AI, is probing the panel fall in the Delhi-Bangalore flight. Keskar had noted this happened at the airport, not on flying, and it was not a pressurised panel; the passengers were never at risk.

AI has ordered 27 Boeing 787 craft, of which it has received nine. The 10th is likely to arrive this week.

The cracked windshield on the Delhi-Melbourne flight has been replaced with a new one. The aircraft was to return here on Tuesday evening.
DREAM OR NIGHTMARE?

• Air India ordered 27 Dreamliners under the leadership of then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in 2005. List price of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is $212 million
• Air India has nine Dreamliners till now, which it flies on three international routes to London, Sydney-Melbourne and Paris; and on three domestic routes to Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai. The 10th Dreamliner would be delivered this week
• Air India would receive another four Dreamliners by December and the remaining 13 by 2016. The airline plans to start direct services to Rome and Milan using 787s this year and to Moscow early next year
• The Dreamliners are crucial to the turnaround plan of the loss-making government carrier. Boeing claims the aircraft is 20 per cent more fuel-efficient. The 787 is intended to do away with a route-plane mismatch in AI’s operations
• However, a series of technical glitches have surfaced in the aircraft; most recently with the braking system on a London-Delhi flight malfunctioning