New Delhi: Air India has grounded its entire fleet of six Boeing 787 aircraft, more popularly called the Dreamliner.
The move for grounding the fleet began at 3 a.m. this morning when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) received a communication from the US watchdog Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pointing to problems with the battery on the aircraft.
Following this early morning communication, the DGCA asked Air India to ground the fleet. Sources indicated that the problem is likely to be sorted out within the next three to five days and the aircraft should be back in service.
“The onus is now on Boeing to convince the FAA that the issue has been sorted out. When the FAA is convinced and they issue a directive, the aircraft will start flying again,” sources said.
Air India has ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft. Two of the Boeing 787 aircraft in the AI fleet were used to operate early morning flights from Delhi to Bangalore and Chennai as the instructions to ground the aircraft reached late, the sources indicated.
The aircraft were unlikely to be able to head back to Delhi as return flights from these two cities.
17/01/13 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line
