Air India Flights Cancelled | 5 Air India Dreamliner Flights Cancelled - video Dailymotion

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Air India Flights Cancelled | 5 Air India Dreamliner Flights Cancelled

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00:00There's some big breaking news now coming in.

00:02We are learning that a total of five Air India international flights have been cancelled today

00:07due to different reasons including technical glitches and aircraft unavailability.

00:12These cancelled flights involve Boeing Dreamliners.

00:15Remember it was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft that had crashed on June 12th.

00:20Now this is the latest that's coming in at the moment.

00:23What we are given to understand is that at least five Air India international flights

00:28which are Boeing Dreamliner flights have been cancelled today due to different reasons.

00:33My colleague Shiv Arud also now joins us on the broadcast here.

00:36He's getting us more on that.

00:37Well this raises a lot of concern Shiv.

00:40It does sound alarming for sure for five Air India flights to be cancelled in a matter of a few hours

00:47and all of them happen to be a 787 Dreamliner aircraft, the same aircraft type involved in the Ahmedabad flight 171 crash.

00:56But it's important to set the context here so the viewing public, the flying public is not unduly alarmed.

01:03This is definitely a very serious issue and must be scrutinized closely.

01:07But the flight from Ahmedabad to London for instance, that was cancelled owing to possible unavailability of aircraft

01:16because of the heightened amount of inspections that have been imposed on the Air India 787 fleet.

01:22The Delhi-Paris flight was apparently cancelled because of some restrictions on night flying

01:27also possibly stemming from the additional inspections that have been made mandatory for the 787 Dreamliners in service with Air India.

01:37The other three flights, the details have not come out yet officially from Air India.

01:42But at least so far there is no reason to believe that there is some common factor

01:46that has compelled the cancellation of all these five flights.

01:50But the fact that all of these five flights that have been cancelled are 787 Dreamliners

01:55does suggest that it must be something specific to the fleet type.

02:00Remember that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which had imposed a list of enhanced safety inspection measures

02:06specific to the 787 Dreamliners, has imposed additional pressure on the fleet

02:13in terms of the time taken to turn around each aircraft so it can service a particular sector.

02:19And given the margins and delays beyond which airlines cannot operate such aircraft

02:25because of this enhanced sensitivity, sometimes they probably do not have a choice

02:30but to cancel flights and use other aircraft.

02:33So what one can say quite safely is the additional pressure on the 787s,

02:40the additional scrutiny and inspection requirements on this particular fleet of Air India

02:45stemming from the accident four days ago in Ahmedabad is definitely a factor at play here.

02:50But you know, Shiv, what could actually, it could actually mean for Boeing Dreamliner fleet?

02:58It does raise concerns, but you've also said that there were different reasons

03:04because of which the flight cancellations happened.

03:06But what could it possibly mean?

03:09Well, the truth of the matter is last week, right after the Ahmedabad crash,

03:15remember the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which is India's civil aviation watchdog,

03:21had issued orders called Enhanced Inspection Orders for the 787,

03:27which basically meant that over and above all of the routine inspections

03:31that are imposed on all aircraft that fly with passengers,

03:35the 787s specifically after that crash have to be subjected to an additional list of inspections,

03:42including fuel, hydraulics and many other things, including engine tests.

03:47Now, these mandatory tests are an interim measure.

03:50Remember, there is a larger civil aviation panel that is looking into the crash,

03:55which means that these mandatory interim directives could expand into a larger action.

04:02You know, whether this is going to be a fleet grounding,

04:04whether it's going to be permanent additional inspections,

04:07whether it's going to go beyond just the Indian fleet into international 787s operating around the world

04:13and there are over a thousand in service, that remains to be seen.

04:16But that additional pressure on this aircraft type in India

04:20is perhaps the reason why there are all these cancellations.

Air India Flights Cancelled | 5 Air India Dreamliner Flights Cancelled

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