Cabin crew sacking: More trouble brews for Air India amid CBI probe demand

New Delhi: Air India, currently reeling under the devastating AI 171 Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash that killed at least 270 people, including 241 passengers and crew members, on Friday faced more heat as the Aviation Industry Employees’ Guild (AIEG) demanded a CBI probe into the sacking of two cabin crew members by the airline for reporting a technical fault in the aircraft last year.

AIEG General Secretary, George Abraham, told IANS that they have demanded a CBI probe into the sacking of two cabin crew members, as this move, after pressure on them by Air India to change their statements after reporting a technical fault in the Dreamliner 787 aircraft, is a very serious matter.

“This poses a threat to the safety of the aviation sector. We have also written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a fair probe into the matter,” Abraham said. He further stated that on May 14, 2024, after the Air India flight from Mumbai to London reached its destination, the slide rafts opened in manual mode due to a technical fault in the door of the aircraft.

According to Abraham, the slide rafts are activated only when the plane is in automatic mode. The pilot and the entire cabin crew had also admitted the technical fault in the plane in their initial statements, but due to alleged pressure from the airline’s management, the statement was later changed.

Abraham said that to suppress the technical fault in the plane, the Air India management allegedly pressured these people to change their statement, and when they refused, both these crew members were fired from their jobs.

Speaking to IANS, Abraham further said that due to the seriousness of the matter, both these crew complained about the matter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the regulator called them to Delhi and heard the whole matter and talked about conducting an “informal investigation”.

However, eight months have passed, but no result of the “informal investigation” has come out, he noted.

According to Abraham, after the deadly Ahmedabad plane crash, the attention of the government and the people is back on this issue.

“This is why we have raised it once again and written a letter to PM Modi. We hope that this investigation will be expedited,” he said.

In a statement to IANS, the airline on Friday said that the “said cabin crew members were terminated for their misconduct and behaviour and continuing to falsify critical information during the course of an investigation”.

“The said investigation was launched after an emergency slide was activated while opening the aircraft door post landing,” said Air India.

Slide rafts deploy when a door is opened in “armed” or “automatic mode”.

The crew alleged the Dreamliner’s door had malfunctioned as the slide raft deployed, though the door was opened in the “manual mode”.

The incident is reported to have occurred on May 14 last year, after the Mumbai-London flight AI-129 docked at Heathrow airport and the passengers disembarked.

The two former senior cabin crew members have written to PM Modi, alleging they were wrongfully terminated last year after raising an alarm over technical issues in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

The letter claimed that, “the said accident was waiting to happen as our various statements and contentions relating to the technical aspects and defects in the Aircraft – (Dreamliner Aircraft B787/8 Series), were deliberately pulled under the carpet, ignored, overlooked or not considered seriously for reasons best known to Air India Ltd management (AI) and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)”.

The crew claimed the crash was “waiting to happen”, and that their repeated warnings about aircraft defects — especially a 2024 incident involving Dreamliner VT-ANQ — were ignored by Air India and the DGCA.

However, the signatories allege they were later pressured to change their statements, and when they refused, they were sacked without a proper enquiry.

“We fail to understand why an informal discussion instead of an impartial full-fledged enquiry was sought to be conducted by DGCA, the Regulatory Authority, when such a grave incident relating to passenger and crew safety was reported,” the letter read.

Calling it their “last hope,” the crew seeks the Prime Minister’s intervention to reinstate them and investigate the Dreamliner’s safety record.

IANS