After crash, red flags, government & Air India brainstorm on safety | India News
NEW DELHI: Brainstorming is on at the highest levels of the Tata Group and the aviation ministry to put Air India back on track after the spate of bad news, led by the June 12 AI 171 crash and regulatory actions in the past few months.Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran met Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu and aviation secretary Samir Kumar Sinha on Friday after three days of detailed discussions between the airline management (headed by CEO Campbell Wilson) and officials (headed by the secretary) led to concrete suggestions.“We have discussed all issues threadbare, including those related to maintenance, leadership and communications. Something positive will come out of this. India needs strong carriers and govt will support airlines wherever needed. The results will hopefully be visible in coming days once the suggestions are implemented,” said people in the know.Chandrasekaran said to have told govt about safety steps taken by AI One such meeting went on till well after 10 pm earlier this week.Sources say Chandrasekaran informed govt about steps being taken by the airline after the AI 171 crash and some recent incidents to bolster safety. “Basically, govt was informed how AI plans to win back flyers’ confidence,” they said.It is learnt that the areas identified during the recent meetings for immediate attention include airworthiness, engineering and maintenance. A lack of spares, for instance, often forces aircraft to fly under the “minimum equipment list” (MEL) for a long time. MEL is a list that conditionally allows aircraft to be used with some equipment inoperative, with the condition that the same does not impact safety and that it would be replaced within a certain timeframe.The main issue, say multiple people involved in the exercise, is of culture. “Vistara was merged into AI last Nov. Ideally, it should have been the other way round. But that is done. Both airlines have a very different culture and AI is now facing post-merger issues. During the meetings, solutions were suggested. The main issue is not operations but about engineering and maintenance,” they said.For some time, having the better-run Singapore Airlines (SIA) – which holds a 25.1% stake in AI, with the rest with the Tatas – play a more visible handholding may be considered. It’s not about the image of AI alone, which has taken a beating, but also of the Maharaja’s new promoters: Tatas and SIA.The focus has to be on ensuring 100% safety, not on growing rapidly. AI has cut flights after the Ahmedabad crash. “The culture has to change to safety first, not just for AI but for all airlines. ‘Sacrifice growth, but ensure safety’ has to be the firm message across the board,” they said.The example being cited is of Boeing, which went on a rollercoaster ride in recent years, from being a “marvellous organisation once celebrated for engineering excellence” to an airline cutting corners for commercial reasons when it tried to counter competitor Airbus’ best-seller A320NEO planes with a hurriedly made B737 MAX. After two MAX crashes in quick succession, Boeing is now trying hard to win back customer airlines’ and flyers’ faith by again making safe planes.
