More than 70 per cent of the aircraft in the Air India Group fleet have seen recurring technical defects, the Centre informed the Parliament on Thursday.
The official data raises concern, especially given the airline's recent history. The data was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol. He informed that 191 of the 267 aircraft operated by Air India Group were identified with repetitive defects during inspections conducted since January last year.
Among these aircraft, 137 out of 166 reviewed planes were from Air India, while 54 out of 101 were from AI Express.
Air India, although, seemed to differ on the data as an Air India official said, "We have, out of abundant caution, carried out checks across our fleet. Hence, numbers are higher."
Going into detail, a senior Air India executive explained that there are different types of equipment checked on planes. These are categorised into A, B, C, and D segments, depending on the equipment's priority or urgency.
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"In the case of Air India, most of the issues are with category D, which includes items like seats, tray tables, screens (on the back of seats) and so on. These are not related to the safety of the aircraft," the executive said.
50% airline fleet with recurring defects
In total, 754 aircraft across the Indian airlines were analysed. Out of these, 377 aircraft were identified as having recurring defects since January last year.
IndiGo: 405 aircraft belonging to IndiGo were analysed, out of which 148 were identified for repetitive defects, as of February 3, this year.
SpiceJet: 43 aircraft of SpiceJet were analysed, and 16 planes were identified for repetitive defects
Akasa Air: A total of 14 Akasa Air aircraft were identified for repetitive defects of the 32 aircraft analysed.