Air India's Dreamliner fleet suffered 136 'minor' problems: Ajit Singh

Air India's Dreamliner fleet suffered 136 "minor" technical problems between their delivery since September last year and till late last month and all these problems were fixed by technical teams of the airline and Boeing, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Monday.

Observing that a Boeing team was currently in India to upgrade the software in these planes, he said each Boeing 787 Dreamliner is being grounded for ten days since the beginning of this month for maintenance and these upgrades.

Observing that Air India was constantly in touch with Boeing on the issue of technical reliability of these new aircraft, he said a team of engineers and technicians from the American manufacturer was installing a reliability enhancement package involving upgrades to the software and components in the aircraft.

The Boeing team is also involved in the root cause analysis and evolving remedial measures, he said. Regarding a panel falling out of the belly of one Dreamliner as it landed in Bengaluru few months ago, Singh said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was probing the incident and its report is awaited.

On the overseas battery-fire incident this January involving the same aircraft operated by a Japanese carrier and consequential grounding of Dreamliners the world over, the minister said the requisite rectification was carried out on the battery units of the aircraft of Air India, following which the planes were put back in service in May.