Air India has cancelled at least eight international flights operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, the aircraft model involved in the crash last week that killed at least 270 people.
The cancellations on Tuesday affected services to cities including London, Paris, Vienna and Dubai. The airline cited a combination of aircraft unavailability, technical snags, airspace restrictions, and extended safety checks.
At least three other Dreamliner flights have been grounded or delayed in the past 48 hours, as India’s aviation regulator ordered rigorous pre-flight inspections across Air India’s fleet of 33 Dreamliners. A Boeing 777 operating the San Francisco-Mumbai route was also grounded because of a technical hitch.
The disruption came as pressure mounted on Air India and Boeing as the investigation into India’s deadliest plane crash in decades continued. Investigators are pursuing multiple theories, including what some independent experts believe may have been a catastrophic – and extremely rare – dual engine failure.
Offering a measure of relief for Air India late on Tuesday, India’s aviation regulator said it had found no major safety flaws in the airline’s Dreamliner fleet but warned of persistent maintenance shortcomings and coordination lapses that could undermine reliability.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which conducted in-depth inspections of 24 Dreamliners, raised concerns over delays linked to spare-part shortages and weak internal coordination between engineering, ground handling, and operations teams.
Still, in a boost to the Tata owned airline, which is facing intense scrutiny after the crash, the DGCA said all inspected Dreamliners were compliant with existing aviation safety standards. The wide-body jets form the backbone of Air India’s long-haul network.
Flight AI171 issued a Mayday call moments after taking off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport on 12 June. It reached only 650 feet before crashing into a medical college complex, erupting into a fireball. Only one of the 242 people onboard survived, with at least 29 people on the ground also killed.
By Tuesday, officials had matched the DNA of 135 victims and returned 101 bodies to relatives, though they said five of those individuals had not been listed on the flight manifest.
The identification process has been slow and gruelling. Many victims were burned beyond recognition, and officials said the remains were being processed in small batches through genetic testing. The official death toll cannot be finalised until the meticulous process of DNA identification is complete.
Dr Rakesh Joshi, medical superintendent at Ahmedabad civil hospital, said “135 DNA samples have been matched, and 101 bodies have already been handed over to the respective families. Of these 101 deceased, five were not on board the flight.” He said he hoped DNA profiling would be completed by Wednesday.
The sole survivor, a 40-year-old British national of Indian origin, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, described the horror of the crash: “Right in front of my eyes, I saw air hostesses, uncles, aunties dying,” said Ramesh, who lost his brother Ashok in the tragedy.
On Tuesday, hundreds of people gathered in Mumbai to pay an emotional farewell at the funeral of the flight’s captain, Sumeet Sabharwal, whose final actions may have prevented even greater loss of life. A veteran pilot with more than 8,000 hours of experience, he has been praised for appearing to have steered the aircraft clear of a densely populated area.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is leading the inquiry, supported by UK and US safety agencies. Investigators are examining multiple potential causes, from thrust-and-flap settings to fact that the landing gear did not appear to have retracted. Investigators, who have recovered the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, are also looking at whether the aircraft lost thrust in both engines. “There was some sort of dual engine failure,” said Steve Scheibner, a former US navy pilot, commentator, and a retired American Airlines captain.
The DGCA has asked Air India to submit records from recent inspections and detailed personnel files of the pilots and flight dispatcher, Reuters reported. It has also ordered safety drills in all airports and instructed flying schools to conduct compliance checks.
The crash marks a pivotal moment for Air India. The tea-to-steel Tata Group, which acquired the carrier in 2022 after nearly 70 years of state ownership, has invested billions of dollars to modernise its ageing fleet and revive the brand’s image.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of Tata Sons, said: “We need to use this incident as an act of force to build a safer airline. We’re going to get through this.”
Boeing’s commercial chief, Stephanie Pope, met Chandrasekaran at Air India’s headquarters near Delhi on Tuesday. The tragedy involving Boeing’s most advanced aircraft in service has renewed scrutiny of the manufacturer’s controversial safety record. Boeing has said only that it was “focused on supporting the investigation”.
