New Delhi: Air India’s dwindling Boeing 777 fleet was dealt a fresh blow Wednesday night when one of its aircraft caught fire during routine maintenance at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport — the fourth Air India 777 to go out of service in about a month.
The auxiliary power unit (APU) of the B777-200LR aircraft, registration code VT-ALF, caught fire during maintenance work on an air conditioner when it was being prepared for the non-stop Delhi-San Francisco flight, one of the longest in the world. Air India officials termed it ‘a minor accident’.
“Yesterday night at Delhi when an engineer was doing routine technical examination of an empty aircraft (777), APU auto shut down took place. Airport fire personnel observed black fumes from the APU exhaust and believing it to be a fire hazard sprayed APU and part of the fuselage with foam spray,” a statement from the airline read.
Boeing India has not yet responded to queries sent by ThePrint. This report will be updated when it does.
Air India owns 18 Boeing 777s — 15 777-300ERs and three 777-200LRs. Three of them have been grounded for about a month due to lack of funds for maintenance.
“There were no funds to buy spare parts and continue operating these aircraft. However, now, we are simultaneously buying spare parts and collecting them in order to bring the grounded B777s back to the fleet in another month’s time,” an Air India source told ThePrint.
According to another Air India official, talks are also on between the national carrier and the State Bank of India to operate aircraft in five international sectors that were flown by Jet Airways before financial problems forced the grounding of the airlin
26/04/19 Ifrah Mufti/Print
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The auxiliary power unit (APU) of the B777-200LR aircraft, registration code VT-ALF, caught fire during maintenance work on an air conditioner when it was being prepared for the non-stop Delhi-San Francisco flight, one of the longest in the world. Air India officials termed it ‘a minor accident’.
“Yesterday night at Delhi when an engineer was doing routine technical examination of an empty aircraft (777), APU auto shut down took place. Airport fire personnel observed black fumes from the APU exhaust and believing it to be a fire hazard sprayed APU and part of the fuselage with foam spray,” a statement from the airline read.
Boeing India has not yet responded to queries sent by ThePrint. This report will be updated when it does.
Air India owns 18 Boeing 777s — 15 777-300ERs and three 777-200LRs. Three of them have been grounded for about a month due to lack of funds for maintenance.
“There were no funds to buy spare parts and continue operating these aircraft. However, now, we are simultaneously buying spare parts and collecting them in order to bring the grounded B777s back to the fleet in another month’s time,” an Air India source told ThePrint.
According to another Air India official, talks are also on between the national carrier and the State Bank of India to operate aircraft in five international sectors that were flown by Jet Airways before financial problems forced the grounding of the airlin
26/04/19 Ifrah Mufti/Print
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