NEW DELHI – India’s aviation regulator has raised serious concerns over aircraft safety after discovering multiple defects repeatedly appearing on planes at Delhi and Mumbai airports, two of the country’s busiest aviation hubs.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), in its statement on Tuesday, said these repeated defects suggest “ineffective monitoring and inadequate rectification action”, highlighting lapses in safety checks and maintenance procedures. The findings were revealed as part of a special safety audit ordered following the fatal Air India crash on June 12, which claimed 271 lives.
While the DGCA did not name specific airlines or outline the nature of the defects, the two airports are major hubs for carriers like IndiGo, Air India, and Air India Express, along with several international airlines.
The audit further uncovered several maintenance-related violations, including:
- Aircraft maintenance engineers failing to take prescribed safety precautions
- Defects being left unaddressed
- Non-compliance with work order procedures during jetliner servicing
Additionally, at an unnamed airport, the DGCA noted that no safety survey had been conducted despite recent construction in the surrounding area. This issue has drawn renewed scrutiny after the Air India jet crashed into a doctors’ hostel, killing dozens.
The regulator emphasized that these lapses were found during “comprehensive surveillance” operations conducted during night and early morning hours at key airports, including those in Delhi and Mumbai.
The DGCA has instructed the concerned operators to implement corrective actions within seven days.
Although the DGCA had ordered a fresh round of checks on Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet after the crash, it later confirmed that no major safety issues were found during these inspections.
According to Reuters, the DGCA cancelled a planned regulatory audit at Air India’s headquarters on Tuesday due to operational disruptions. These disruptions stemmed from airspace closures across several Middle Eastern countries, triggered by the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict.