In the past six months, Air India has received nine show cause notices related to five different safety lapses, the Civil Aviation Ministry revealed in the Rajya Sabha today. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said that while the airline has not shown any negative crash-related reliability trends during this period, enforcement action has been concluded for one of the violations.

The minister was responding to a set of questions raised by Members of Parliament, including CPM’s John Brittas. However, specific details regarding the nature of these violations were not disclosed in the written reply.

Air India's safety record has been under close scrutiny following the devastating crash of a Boeing Dreamliner in Ahmedabad last month, which left 260 people dead and 81 injured. The aircraft, en route from Ahmedabad to London, had 241 individuals on board. Only one passenger survived. The majority of casualties, however, occurred on the ground when the plane struck a medical college hostel.

Following the tragedy, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) initiated a detailed inspection of Air India’s Boeing 787-8/9 fleet. Out of 33 such aircraft, 31 that were in operation were examined. Minor issues were discovered in eight planes, all of which were cleared for flight after repairs. The remaining two aircraft were undergoing scheduled maintenance.

Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu shared these updates in a separate reply to BJP MP Ashokrao Shankarrao Chavan.

In another written response, Mr. Mohol informed DMK MP Kanimozhi that investigators are probing every possibility, including sabotage, to determine the cause of the Ahmedabad accident.

As for regulatory actions, the DGCA has undertaken 254 enforcement measures up to April this year. For comparison, 673 such actions were recorded in 2024, and 542 in 2023. These measures range from issuing warnings and levying fines to suspending or canceling licenses.