Lawmakers in India will convene to review the safety of the country’s aviation sector, days after an Air India flight bound for London crashed in the deadliest air disaster in decades.
A parliamentary panel will conduct the high-level review on 9 July, with participation from industry and government officials, air traffic controllers, and top executives from carriers including Air India and IndiGo.
The meeting follows the 12 June crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner en route from Ahmedabad to London, which killed 275 people, including 241 on board. The aircraft crashed into a building just a minute after take-off.
The crash – described as the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade – has sparked alarm over passenger safety in India, particularly as it was the first fatal crash involving a Boeing 787 anywhere in the world.
An internal memo on the meeting did not explicitly mention the crash, but one lawmaker told Reuters it would be discussed.
“If we do not raise questions on it, the airlines will not become vigilant about these issues,” said RK Chaudhary, a member of the panel.
Both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder – the aircraft’s black boxes – have been recovered. Their data has been analysed by a team led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, in collaboration with the US National Transportation Safety Board.
Since the incident, over 80 Air India flights have been cancelled, some due to technical issues compounded by passengers panicking over faulty air conditioning and entertainment systems – seen by some as potential warning signs of further failures.
Air India has suspended 15 per cent of its international wide-body schedule between 21 June and 15 July. Services from Amritsar and Goa to London Gatwick have been halted, and frequencies reduced on routes to and from London Heathrow and Birmingham.
As a confidence-building measure, Air India has also launched inspections of its Boeing aircraft.
Air India’s chief executive, Campbell Wilson, told passengers: “Arising from this tragedy, and as directed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), we have been conducting thorough safety inspections on our 33 Boeing 787 aircraft.
“So far, inspections have been completed on 26 and these have been cleared for service. The remaining aircraft are currently undergoing planned maintenance and will have these additional checks completed before being released into service.”
