Nearly 72% of Air India Group aircraft flagged for recurring defects, Parliament told

Nearly three-quarters of the Air India Group’s aircraft examined for recurring technical issues have been found to suffer from repetitive defects, according to data presented in the Lok Sabha, raising fresh questions over fleet maintenance standards.

Replying to a question in Parliament on Thursday, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said 191 out of 267 aircraft belonging to Air India and Air India Express that were analysed since January last year had been identified with recurring defects — amounting to nearly 72 per cent of the fleet reviewed.

Across the Indian aviation sector, a total of 754 aircraft operated by six scheduled airlines were analysed for repetitive defects during the period, of which 377 aircraft were flagged. IndiGo accounted for the largest number of aircraft examined, with 405 planes reviewed. Of these, 148 were identified as having recurring technical issues as of 3 February this year.

Among Air India’s standalone fleet, 137 out of 166 aircraft analysed were found to have repetitive defects, while 54 of the 101 Air India Express aircraft reviewed were similarly flagged. Together, the two carriers make up the Air India Group.

Other airlines also reported instances of recurring defects, though on a smaller scale. Of the 43 SpiceJet aircraft analysed, 16 were identified with such issues, while 14 aircraft operated by Akasa Air were flagged out of the 32 planes examined.

The minister said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has intensified oversight in response to safety concerns. Over the past year, the regulator carried out 3,890 surveillance inspections, 56 regulatory audits, 84 inspections of foreign aircraft under the Surveillance of Foreign Aircraft (SOFA) programme, and 492 ramp checks as part of planned monitoring activities.

In addition, 874 spot checks and 550 night surveillance inspections were conducted as part of unplanned oversight.

Addressing a separate question on regulatory capacity, Mohol said the DGCA had 637 sanctioned technical posts in 2022. To address staffing shortages, the regulator has since undergone restructuring, increasing the number of sanctioned technical positions to 1,063.

The data underscores the scale of maintenance challenges facing India’s aviation sector, even as regulators seek to strengthen oversight and enforcement amid rapid growth in air traffic.

With PTI inputs