FIP writes to MoCA, urges grounding of Air India's Boeing 787 fleet over safety concerns

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) on Friday has written to the Minister of Civil Aviation, calling for the grounding of all Boeing 787 aircraft operated by Air India following a series of serious technical malfunctions linked to electrical system failures and a special DGCA audit of Air India aircraft for maintenance.

In its letter dated October 10, 2025, Captain CS Randhawa, President of FIP, the pilots' body, cited two major incidents that occurred within a week, involving AI-117 and AI-154, as evidence of worsening safety standards and poor maintenance oversight.

The letter reads: Since 16 Jun 25 we have reiterated that all B-787's in the country must be checked thoroughly for the electrical systems. On 04 Oct the RAT deployed on AI-117 a/c while on approach at BHX. On 09 Oct, AI-154 from Vienna to Delhi diverted to Dubai which had major technical issues where the autopilot system suddenly failed triggering a series of technical malfunctions. The aircraft experienced failures across critical systems which included Autopilots, ILS (Instrument Landing System), Flight Directors (FDs) and Flight Control System Degradation with no Autoland capability. The pilots could not engage the autopilots due electrical malfunctions; thus, pilots were constrained to fly manually at night and divert to Dubai. Moreover, the FD's were not available with
degraded flight control systems. The aircraft landed safely at Dubai. We compliment the skill of the pilots to fly the aircraft at night safely to Dubai with limited automation/systems.

However, Air India categorically denies any assertion that there was an electrical failure in the AI 154 aircraft.